STEPHEN  B.  WEEKS 

CLASS  OF  1886;  PH.D.  THE  JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  NiMI  CARWNA 
THE  WEEKS  OMJUECTON 

©F 

CAEOMMAM 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00030748941 


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Form  No.  471 


ANTIQUITIES 


SOUTHERN  INDIANS, 


PARTICULARLY    OF    1IIE 


GEORGIA     TRIBES 


BY 

CHARLES  C.  JONES,  Je. 


NEW   YORK: 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY 

5«   &  551  BROADWAY. 
1873. 


Entered,  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1373,  by 

CHARLES  C.  JONES,  Jr., 

In  ih3  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


THE  STATE  OF  GEOEGIA, 


THIS   VOLUME   IS   AFFECTIONATELY   INSCRIBED 


ONE  OF  HER  SONS. 


PKEFACE. 


/  Although  tlie  title  intimates  that  our  investiga- 
tions Lave  been  directed  principally  to  an  examination 
of  the  antiquities  of  a  single  State,  the  present  work 
will  be  found  to  embrace  within  its  scope  a  much  more 
extended  field  of  observation.  In  prosecuting  the  pro- 
posed inquiries,  it  appeared  both  unnecessary  and  im- 
proper narrowly  to  observe  the  boundary-lines  which 
separate  modern  States,  v  It  will  be  remembered,  more- 
over, that  the  original  grant  from  the  British  crown 
conveyed  to  the  Trustees  of  the  Colony  of  Georgia  a 
territory  greater  by  far  than  that  now  embraced  with- 
in the  geographical  limits  accorded  to  her  as  a  State. 
/  A  striking  similarity  exists  among  the  customs,  uten- 
sils, implements,  and  ornaments  of  all  the  Southern 
Indians :  consequently,  in  elucidating  the  archaeology 
of  a  region  often  occupied  in  turn  by  various  tribes, 
it    seemed    appropriate  to  mention  and  contrast  the 


VI  PEEFACE. 

antiquities  of  Virginia,  the  Carol  i'nas,  Florida,  Ala- 
bama, Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Tennessee. 

Our  object  has  been,  from  tine  earliest  and  most 
authentic  sources  of  information  at  command,  to  con- 
vey a  correct  impression  of  the  location,  character- 
istics, form  of  government,  social  relations,  manufac- 
tures, domestic  economy,  diversions,  and  customs  of 
the  Southern  Indians,  at  the  time  of  primal  contact 
between  them  and  the  Europeans.  This  introducto- 
ry part  of  the  work  is  followed  by  an  examination  of 
tumuli,  earthworks,  and  various  relics  obtained  from 
burial-mounds,  gathered  amid  refuse-piles,  found  in  an- 
cient graves,  and  picked  up  in  cultivated  fields  and  on 
the  sites  of  old  villages  and  fishing-resorts.  When- 
ever  these  could  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  early 
recorded  observations,  or  were  capable  of  explanation 
by  customs  not  obsolete  at  the  dawn  of  the  historic 
period,  the  authorities  relied  upon  have  been  carefully 
noted. 

The  accompanying  plans  of  mounds  were  prepared 
from  personal  surveys,  and  nearly  every  typical  object 
used  in  illustration  may  be  seen  in  the  author's  collec- 
tion. Most  of  these  relics  were  obtained  by  me  in 
situ.     They  are  now  figured  for  the  first  time.  I 

To  the  friends  who  have  kindly  aided  me  in  gather- 
ing together  a  cabinet  which  so  fully  and  beautifully 
represents  the   arts   and   the   manufactures  of  these 


PREFACE.  Vll 

primitive  peoples,  I  here  renew  my  cordial  and  grate- 
ful acknowledgments. 

Prepared  at  irregular  intervals  and  in  odd  mo- 
ments as  they  could  be  borrowed  from  the  exacting 
and  ever-recurring  engagements  of  an  active  profes- 
sional life,  these  pages,  with  their  manifest  short- 
comings, are  offered  in  the  hope  that  they  will,  at 
least  in  some  degree,  minister  to  the  information  and 
pleasure  of  those  who  are  not  incurious  with  regard 
to  the  subject  of  American  archaeology. 

Charles  C.  Jones,  Jr. 

New  York,  April  10,  1873. 


COXTEXTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 


Location  of  Tribes. — Physical  Characteristics  of  the  Southern  Indians. — System 
of  Government. — The  Mice— The  Eead  War-Chief. — Public  Buildings  in  a 
Creek  Village. — Mode  of  Warfare. — Office  of  High-Priest. — Sun-Worship. — 
Offering  of  the  Stag. — Idol-Worship.— Religious  Ideas. — The  Sun  among  the 
Natchez. — The  Cacica  of  Cutifachiqui. — Mausoleum  of  Talomeco. — Tombs  of 
the  Virginia  Kings,  ......  Page  1 

CHAPTER   II. 

Office  of  the  Conjurer  or  Medicine-man. — Treatment  of  the  Sick. — Medicinal 
Plants. — Towns  and  Private  Houses. — Tenure  of  Property. — Agricultural 
Pursuits. — Town  Plantations  and  Private  Gardens. — Public  Granaries. — Ani- 
mal and  Vegetable  Food. — Mechanical  Labors. — Early  Mining  in  Duke's-Creek 
Valley. — Manufacture  of  Canoes,  Pottery,  Copper  Implements,  Gold,  Silver, 
Shell,  and  Stone  Ornaments. — Various  Implements  and  Articles  of  Stone,- 
Bone,  and  Wood. — Trade  Relations,       .....         £8 

CHAPTER   III. 

Marriage  and  Divorce. — Punishment  of  Adultery. — Costume  and  Ornaments. — 
Skin-painting  and  Tattooing. — Manufacture  of  Carpets,  Feather-shawls,  and 
Moccasins. — Weaving,     .  .  .  .  .  .  .65 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Music    and   Musical    Instruments. — Dancing. — Games. — Gambling. — Festivals. — 
Divisions  of  the  Year. — Counting. — Funeral  Customs,    .  .  .90 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  V, 


General  Observations  on  Mound-Building. — Bartram'3  Account  of  the  Georgia 
Tumuli.— Absence  of  Megalithic  Monuments  and  Animal-shaped  Mounds.— 
Distribution  of  the  Ancient  Population.— Few  Sepulchral  Mounds  erected 
since  the  Advent  of  Europeans.— Antiquity  of  the  Tumuli,  .       Page  118 

CHAPTER   VI. 

Mounds  on  the  Etowah  River.— Temple  for  Sun-worsliip.— Stone  Images.— Fish  - 
Preserves. — Tumuli  in  the  Valley  of  Little  Shoulder-bone  Creek. — Circular 
Earthwork  on  the  Head-waters  of  the  Ogeechee  —  Stone  Tumulus  nearSparta_ 
— Mounds  on  the  Savannah  River. — Meeting  between  the  Cacica  of  the  Savan- 
nah and  De  Soto,  .  .  .  .  .  •  •     1SG 

CHAPTER   VII. 

Tumuli  on  the  Ocmulgee  River,  opposite  Macon.— Brown's  Mount.— Mound  on 
Messier's  Plantation,  in  Early  County,      .....     158 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

Chunky- Yards.— Elevated  Spaces.— Mounds  of  Observation  and  Retreat.— Tumuli 
on  Woolfolk's  Plantation.— Sepulchral  Tumuli.— Chieftain-Mounds.— Custom 
of  burying  Personal  Property  with  the  Dead. — Savannah  owes  a  Monument 
to  Tomo-c;hi-chi. — Family  or  Tribal  Mounds. — Cremation,  .  .178 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Shell-Mounds. — Tumulus  on  Stalling's  Island.— Shell-Heaps  and  their  Contents. — 
Rock-Piles.— Indian  Affection  for  the  Graves  of  their  Departed. — Ancient 
Burial-Ground  on  the  Coast.— Rock-Walls,  Embankments,  and  Defensive  En- 
closures.— Stone  Mountain.— Fortified  Towns  of  the  Southern  Indians,      195 


CHAPTER  X. 

Stone  Graves  in  Nacoochee  Valley  and  elsewhere.— Copper  Implements  and  the 
Use  of  that  Metal  among  the  Southern  Indians.— Cane-Matting.— Shell 
Drinking-Cup?.— Shell  Pins.— Age  of  Stone  Graves. — Evidence  of  Commerce 
anion"  the  Aborigines,      .  .  .  .  .  .  .213 


CHAPTER   XL 

Arrow  and  Spear  Heads.— Use  of  the  Bow.— Skill  in  Archery. — Manufacture  and 
General  Distribution  of  Arrow  and  Spear  Points. — Various  Forms  of  these  Im- 
plements.— Stone  Dagger. — Flint  Sword,  ....     240 


CONTENTS.  XI 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Grooved  Axes. — Hand  and  Wedge-shaped  Axes  or  Celts. — Perforated  and  Orna- 
mental or  Ceremonial  Axes. — Chisels. — Gouges. — Scrapers. — Flint  Knives. — 
Awls,  or  Borers. — Leaf-shaped  Implements. — Smoothing-Stones. — Drift-Im- 
plements, .......       Page  269 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

Agriculture  and  Agricultural  Implements. — Ceremony  of  the  Busk. — Cultivation 
of  Maize. — Mortars  and  Pestles. — Crushing-Stones. — Xut-Stoues. — Use  of 
Walnut  and  Hickory-uut  Oil,        ......     296 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Fishing. — Wears. — Xets. — Xet-sinkers. — Plummets,   .  .  .  321 

CHAPTER   XV. 
Discoidal  Stones. — Chungke-Game,     ......     341 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Stone  Tubes,  .........     359 

CHAPTER  XVH. 

Stones  for  rounding  Arrow-shafts. — Whetstones  or  Sharpeners. — Pierced  Tablets. 
— Pendants. — Slung-stones. — Amulets. — Stone  Plate. — Mica  Mirrors. — Sculp- 
tured Rocks,         ........     366 

CHAPTER   XVIII. 

Pipes. — The  Use  of  Tobacco. — Idol  Pipes. — Calumets. — Common  Pipes.       .     383 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Idol-Worship  among  the  Southern  Indians. — Stone  and  Terra-Cotta  Images,     413 

CHAPTER   XX. 
Pottery,  .........    441 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

The  Use  of  Pearls  as  Ornaments  among  the  Southern  Indians,  .  .     467 

CHAPTER   XXII. 

Primitive  Uses  of  Shells. — Shell-Money. — Shell  Ornaments. — Personal  Decorations. 
— Conclusion,        ........     495 


LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Plate  I.     (To  face  page  136.) 
Tumuli  and  Fish-Preserves  in  the  Etowah  Valley,  Georgia. 

Plate  II.     {To  face  page  144.) 
Figs.  1  and  2.  Tumuli  in  the  Valley  of  Little  Shoulder-hone  Creek. 

3.  Enclosed  Work. 

4.  Circular  Earthwork  on  the  Head-waters  of  the.  Ogeechee. 

5.  Stone  Tumulus  near  Sparta,  Georgia. 

Plate  III.     {To  face  page  152.) 
Tumuli  on  the  Savannah  River,  helow  Augusta. 

Plate  IV.     (To  face  page  15S.) 
Tumuli  on  the  Ocraulgee  River,  opposite  the  City  of  Macon. 

Plate  IV.,  A.     (To  face  page  1G0.) 
Fig.  1.  Skull  of  a  Creek  Indian. 

2  and  3.  Two  Views  of  the  Skull  of  an  Ancient  Mound-builder. 

Plate  V.     {To  face  page  168.) 
Mound  on  Messier's  Plantation,  in  Early  County. 

Plate  VI.     (To  face  page  224.) 
Relics  found  in  Stone  Graves  in  Nacoochec  Valley. 
Fig.  1.  Cane  Matting. 

2-7.  Copper  Implements. 
8  and  9.  Shell  Pins. 
10.  Soapstone  Pin. 
11  and  12.  Stone  Beads. 


XI 7  LIST    OF   ILLUSTKATIONS. 

Plate  VII.     (To  face  page  252.) 
Figs.  1  and  2.  Large  Flint  Spear-heads. 
3  and  5.  Flint  Daggers. 
4.  Serrated  Flint  Sword. 

Plate  VIII.     (To  face  page  254.) 

Figs.  1-12.  Typical  Forms  of  Flint  Spear-heads. 

Plate  IX.     (To  face  page  25G.) 
Figs.  1-41.  Typical  Forms  of  Arrow- points. 

Plate  X.     (To  face  page  274.) 
Figs.  1-7.  Typical  Forms  of  Grooved  Stone  Axes. 
8.  Stone  Adze. 

Plate  XL     (To  face  page  278.) 
F*igs.  1-6.  Typical  Forms  of  Polished  Stone  Celts. 

Plate  XII.     (  To  face  page  280.) 
Stone  Axe  from  Tennessee. 

Plate  XIII.     (To  face  page  282.) 
Figs.  1-5.  Typical  Forms  of  Perforated  and  Ornamental  or   Ceremonial 
Hatchets. 
6.  Ilammer-Stone. 

Plate  XIV.     (To  face  page  286.) 
Figs.  1-4.  Stone  Chisels. 
5-7.  Stone  Gouges. 
8.  Bone  Gouge. 
9-14.  Typical  Forms  of  Stone  Scrapers. 

Plate  XV.     (To  faze  page  290.) 
Figs.  1-9.  Flint  Knives  and  Leaf-shaped  Implements. 

Plate  XVI.     (To  face  page  in.) 

Fig.  1.  Bone  Awl. 

2-5.  Stone  Borers. 
6-9.  Smoothing-Stones. 
10.  Drift  Implement. 

Plate  XVII.     (  To  face  page  302 .) 

Fig.  1.  Stone  Hoe. 
2.  Stone  Spade. 
3-5.  Flint  Agricultural  Implements. 


LIST    OF   ILLUSTRATION.-.  ,  XV 

Plate  XVIII.     (To  face  page  312.) 

Figs.  1  3.  Stone  Mortars. 
4-5.  Stone  Pestles. 

6  and  8.  Maize-crashers  or  Triturating  Stones. 
7.  Stone  upon  which  Nuts  were  cracked. 

Plate  XIX.     (To  face  page  338.) 
Figs.  1-G.  Perforated  Stone  Xet-sinkers. 
7-11.  Grooved       "  " 

12.  Fishing  Plummet. 

Plate  XX.     (Tofasepage  348.) 
Figs.  1-13.  Discoidal  Stones. 

Plate  XXI.     ( To  face  page  358.) 
Figs.  1-0.  Stone  Tabes. 

Plate  XXII.     (To  face  page  366.) 

Fig.  1.  Stone  for  rounding  Arrow-shafts. 

2  and  3.  Pierced  Tablets. 

4.  Slang-stone. 

5.  Amulet. 

6.  Stone  Plate. 

7.  Whetstone. 

Plate  XXIII.     (To  face  page  404.) 
Figs.  1-9.  Typical  Forms  of  Calumets. 

•    Plate  XXIV.     (To  face  page  410.) 

Figs.  1-7.  Typical  Forms  of  Common  Clay  and  Stone  Pipes. 

Plate  XXV.     To  face  page  430.) 

Figs.  1-9.  Clay  Images. 

Plate  XXVI.     (To  face  page  432.) 

Figs.  1-3.  Front,  Side  and  Rear  Views  of  the  Stone  Image  found  in  the 
Etowah  Valley,  Georgia. 

Plate  XXVII.     (To  face  page  454.) 
Fig.  1.  Burial-IIrn. 

2.  Large  Earthen  Pot. 

3  and  4.  Jars. 

5-7.  Pots  with  Ears. 
S.  Pot  with  Legs. 
9  and  10.  Bowls. 


XVI  LIST    OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Plate  XXVIII.     {To  face  'page  456.) 
Fig.  1.  Jar. 

2.  Burial-Urn. 

3  and  4.  Vessels  with  Narrow  Necks. 

5-10.  Pottery  from  Stone  Graves  of  Tennessee. 

Plate  XXIX.     {To  face  page  458.) 
Figs.  1-32.  Sherds,  showing  the  Ornamentation  of  Primitive  Pottery. 

Plate  XXX.     {lo  face  page  502.) 
Figs.  1  and  2.  Wampum  or  Shell  Money. 
3  and  4.  Shell  Gorgets. 
5-7.  Shell  Pins. 

8.  The  OHva  as  a  Shell  Bead. 

9.  The  Marginella  as  a  Shell  Bead. 

10-12.  Imperforate  Columns  of  Sea-Shells  as  Articles  of  Commerce. 

13.  Bone  Bead. 

14-19.  Typical  Forms  of  Shell  Beads. 


WOODCUTS. 

1.  Buried  Canoe  from  the  Savannah-River  Swamp,     .  .        Page  53 

2.  Bartram's  Plan  of  the  "  Chunk- Yard  "  of  the  Muscogulges  or  Creeks,  179 

3.  Two  Views  of  a  Sculptured  Rock  in  Forsyth  County,  Georgia,      .     378 


ANTIQUITIES 


SOUTHERN     INDIANS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

Location  of  Tribes. — Physical  Characteristics  of  the  Southern  Indians. — System 
of  Government. — The  Mico. — The  Head  War-Chief. — Public  Buildings  in  a 
Creek  Village. — Mode  of  Warfare. — Office  of  High-Priest. — Sun-Worship. — 
Offering  of  the  Stag. — Idol-Worship. — Pieligious  Ideas. — The  Sun  among  the 
Natchez. — The  Cacica  of  Cutifachiqui. — Mausoleum  of  Talomeco. — Tombs  of 
the  Virginia  Kings. 

By  letters  patent,  dated  the  9th  of  June,  1732, 
King  George  II.  incorporated  the  trustees  for  estab- 
lishing the  colony  of  Georgia  in  America,  and  con- 
veyed to  them  and  their  successors  "  seven-eighths 
of  all  that  territory  lying  between  the  Savannah  and 
Alatamaha  Rivers,  and  westwardly  from  the  heads  of 
the  said  rivers  respectively,  in  direct  lines,  to  the 
south  seas."  In  this  alienation  were  embraced  all  isl- 
ands within  twenty  leagues  of  the  coast.  Including  a 
large  portion  of  the  present  States  of  Alabama  and 
Mississippi,  this  grant  claimed  an  extension,  in  a  west- 
erly direction,  as  indefinite  as  was  then  the  geographi- 
cal knowledge  of  the  region  intended  to  be  comprised 
in  the  royal  feofment. 

Of  the  Indian  nations,  east  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
occupying  and  living  adjacent  to  this  territory  about 


2  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  dominant 
peoples  were  the  Uchees,  Lower,  Middle,  and  Upper 
Creeks — constituting  the  formidable  Muscogee  '  Con- 
federacy— the  Yamasees,  the  Cherokees,  the  Chicka- 
saws,  the  Choctaws,  the  Natchez  and  the  Seminoles. ' 
East  of  the  Savannah  River  resided  the  Catawbas,  the 
Savannahs,  and  the  Westoes — the  latter  tribe  includ- 
ing the  Stonoes  and  the  Edistoes— cruel  and  hostile 
peoples,  between  whom  and  the  Carolina  colonists  early 
and  prolonged  warfare  ensued.  The  Yamasees  are 
mentioned  by  Governor  Arehdale2  as  living  about 
eighty  miles  from  Charleston,  and  extending  their 
hunting  excursions  nearly  to  St.  Augustine.  This 
was  in  1695.  Between  the  Westoes  and  the  Savan- 
nahs— both  potent  tribes  and  numbered  by  "  many 
thousands"  —  a  violent  civil  strife  arose,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  they  were  greatly  reduced  in  popula- 
tion and  resources.  This  contest  resulted  in  the  final 
overthrow  and  expulsion  of  the  Westoes — "the  more 
cruel  of  the  two  " — the  Savannahs  continuing  "  good 
friends  and  useful  neighbors  to  the  English." 3  Small- 
pox and  other  unusual  sicknesses  are  said,  at  an  early 
period  of  the  English  colonization  of  Carolina,  to  have 
wrought  sad  havoc  among  the  natives. 

Surveyor-General  Lawson  describes  the  Savannahs 
as  a  "  famous,  warlike,  friendly  nation  of  Indians  liv- 

1  See  Bowen's  map  of  Georgia,  etc.  London,  1*764.  Jeffery's  map  of  Florida. 
London,  1773.     Gallatin's  map.     "  Archseologia  Americana,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  265. 

The  Chickasaws  are  described  by  Captain  Romans J  as  a  fierce,  cruel,  insolent, 
and  haughty  race,  corrupt  in  morals,  filthy  in  discourse,  lazy,  powerful,  and  well- 
made,  expert  swimmers,  good  warriors  and  excellent  hunters.  The  Choctaws,  on 
the  contrary,  he  praises  as  a  nation  of  farmers,  inclined  to  peace  and  industry. 

2  "  Description  of  Carolina,"  etc.,  p.  19.     London,  1*707. 

3  Archdale's  "Description  of  Carolina,"  p.  3.     London,  1707. 


1  "Concise    Natural  History  of  East  and  West   Florida,"    pp.    59-G7,    71. 
York,  1775. 


THE   YAMASEES,    TJCHEES    AND    CREEKS.  3 

ing  to  the  south  end  of  Ashly  River."  '  They  prob- 
ably derived  their  name  from  the  river  whose  banks 
they  inhabited,  and  it  is  Mr.  Gallatin's  opinion  2  that 
they  and  the  Yamasees  were  one  and  the  same  people, 
the  latter  being  the  true  Indian  name. 

These  Yamasees  and  their  confederates  were,  in 
1715,  routed  by  Governor  Craven  and  driven  across 
the  Savannah  River  into  the  arms  of  the  Spaniards  in 
Florida.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  Yamacraws, 
who  were  occupying  the  present  site  of  the  city  of  'Sa- 
vannah  when  General  Oglethorpe  landed  and  estab- 
lished the  colony  of  Georgia,  were  a  remnant  of  this 
tribe.  Among  the  allies  of  the  Yamasees  the  Uchees 
were  numbered,  and  they,  too,  after  this  signal  discom- 
fiture" contented  themselves  with  a  residence  in  the 
everglades  of  Florida.  Theirs,  of  all  the  Indian  lan- 
guages of  this  region,  was  the  most  uncouth  and  gut- 
tural. Bartram  asserts  that  their  national  lanoriao;e 
was  radically  different  from  the  Muscogulgee  tongue. 
He  was  informed  by  the  traders  that  their  dialect  was 
the  same  as  that  of  the  Shawnees.  Although  at  one 
time  confederated  with  the  Creeks,  they  refused  to 
mix  with  them  and  excited  the  jealousy  of  that  whole 
nation. 

The  Chiekasaws  at  one  period  occupied  the  left 
bank  of  the  Savannah  River  opposite  Augusta.2 

About  the  date  of  the  colonization  of  Georgia,  the 
territory  of  the  Creek  Confederacy — including  lands 
inhabited  by  the  Seminoles — was  bounded  on  the 
west  by  Mobile  River  and  by  the  ridge  separating 
the  waters  of  the  Toinbiirbee  from  those  of  the  Ala- 

o 

bama  (the  latter  being  the  contested  boundary-line  be- 

1  "History  of  Carolina,"  p.  42.     London,  1714. 

2  Synopsis  of  the  Indian  Tribes,  "  Archaeologia  Americana,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  84. 
a  Haywood's  "  Aboriginal  History  of  Tennessee,"  p.  290. 


4  .    ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

tween  the  Creeks  and  the  Choctaws),  on  the  north  by 
the  Cherokees,  on  the  northeast  by  the  Savannah 
River,  and  on  every  other  side  by  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  is  believed,  at  the  end  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  that  south  of  the  thirty-fourth 
degree  of  north  latitude  the  Creeks  occupied  the  east- 
ern as  well  as  the  western  bank  of  the  Savannah.  It 
cannot  now  be  ascertained  with  certainty  when  the 
consolidation  of  this  confederacy  was  effected.  "  It  is 
probable,"  says  Mr.  Gallatin,  "  that  the  appellation  of 
Appalachians  was  geographical,  and  applied  to  the 
Indians  living  on  the  Appalachicola  or  Chattahoochee 
River,  as  the  name  of  Creeks  seems  to  have  been  given 
from  an  early  time  to  those  inhabiting  generally  the 
country  adjacent  to  the  Savannah  River."  Of  the 
Creek  Confederacy,  by  far  the  most  numerous  and 
powerful  nation  was  the  Muscogee.1  The  Hitckit- 
tees,  who  resided  on  the  Chattahoochee  and  Flint 
Rivers,  although  a  distinct  tribe,  spoke  a  dialect  of 
the  'Muscogee.  The  Seminoles,  or  Isty-semole  (wild 
men),  inhabiting  the  peninsula  of  Florida,  were  pure 
Muscogees,  and  received  that  name  because  they 
subsisted  principally  by  hunting  and  devoted  but 
little  attention  to  agriculture.2 

When  questioned  as  to  their  origin,  the  Muscogees 
responded  that  the  prevailing  tradition  among  them 
was,  that  their  progenitors  had  issued  out  of  a  cave 
near  the  Alabama  River.  The  account  given  by  the 
Hitchittees  of  their  beginning  was  scarcely  less  fanci- 
ful. They  claimed  that  their  ancestors  had  fallen  from 
the  sky. 

1  "  Concise  Natural  History  of  East  and  West  Florida,"  etc.,  by  Captain  Ber- 
nard Romans.     New  York,  1775. 

-  Gallatin's  Synopsis  of  the  Indiau  Tribes.  "  Archaologia  Americana,"  vol. 
ii.,  p.  94. 


THE    CHACTAWS,    UCHEES    AND    NATCHEZ.  5 

"The  Chactaws,"  says  Captain  Romans,  "have  told 
me  of  a  hole  between  their  nation  and  the  Chicasaws, 
out  of  which  their  whole,  very  numerous  nation,  walked 
forth  at  once,  without  so  much  as  warning  any  neigh- 
bor." ' 

The  Uchees  and  the  Natchez  both  acknowledged 
allegiance  to  the  Creek  Confederacy.  The  original 
seats  of  the  Uchees  are  thought  to  have  been  east 
of  the  Coosa,  and  probably  of  the  Chattahoochee. 
They  declared  themselves  the  most  ancient  inhabitants 
of  the  country,  and  it  has  been  suggested  that  they 
were  the  peoples  called  Appalaches  by  the  historians 
of  De  Soto's  expedition.  Their  country  was  mentioned 
as  a  land  abounding  in  towns  and  subsistence.  Early 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  they  occupied  the  western 
bank  of  the  Savannah  River;  and,  as  late  as  1736, 
claimed  the  country  both  above  and  below  Augusta. 
The  name  of  at  least  one  creek  in  Columbia  County 
perpetuates  at  once  their  memory  and  the  fact  of  their 
former  occupancy  of  this  region. 

A  residue  of  the  Natchez  forsook  their  old  habitat 
on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  and,  journeying  east-^ 
ward,  associated  themselves  with  the  Creeks  less  than 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago.  The  principal  towns 
of  the  Creeks  were  Cussetah,  Cowetah,  Tukawbatchie, 
and  Oscoochee.2  The  Muscogee,,  the  Hitchittee,  the 
Uchee,  the  Natchez,  and  the  Alibamon  or  Coosada, 
were  the  principal  languages  spoken  by  the  various 
tribes  composing  the  Creek  Confederacy.  On  the  12th 
of  March,  1733,  General  Oglethorpe  mentions  the 
Lower  and  Upper  Creeks,  and  the  Uchees,  as  the  three 

1  "Concise  Xatural  History  of  East  and  West  Florida,"  p.  58.     New  York. 
1775. 

2  "  Archa'ologia  Americana,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  95. 


h  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE   SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

most  powerful  Indiau  nations  in  Georgia  between  the 
mountains  and  the  coast.  The  Lower  Creeks  consisted 
of  nine  towns  or  cantons,  and  their  warriors  were  esti- 
mated by  him  at  one  thousand.  The  military  strength 
of  the  Upper  Creeks  he  computes  at  eleven  hundred 
men  capable  of  bearing  arms,  while  it  was  supposed 
that  the  Uchees  were  at  that  time  unable  to  bring  into 
the  field  more  than  two  hundred  bow-men.  This  esti- 
mate is  evidently  too  small,  and  was  vaguely  formed. 
De  Brahin,1  at  a  later  elate,  reckons  the  population  of 
the  Upper  and  Lower  Creeks  at  fifteen  thousand  nien, 
women,  and  children,  and  rates  their  warriors  and  gun- 
men above  three  thousand.  To  Colonel  Hawkins2  we 
are  indebted  for  a  very  valuable  sketch  of  the  Creek 
country  in  1798  and  1799. 

The  Creeks  are  described  as  powerful  warriors, 
great  politicians,  and  full  of  jealousy.  They  were  a 
terror  to  the  Cherokees  and  to  the  various  Indian  na- 
tions with  whom  they  waged  ceaseless  wars.3 

Captain  Komans  *  enumerates  remnants  of  the  Ca- 
wittas,  Talepoosas,  Coosas,  Apalacbias,  Conshacs,  or 
Coosades,  Oakmulgis,  Oconis,  Okchoys,  Alibamons, 
Natchez,  Weetumkus,  Pakanas,  Taensas,  Ckacsihooinas, 
Abekas,  and  of  other  tribes,  whose  names  he  did  not 
recollect,  all  calling  themselves  Muscokees,  and  consti- 
tuting what  was  known  as  the  Greek  Confederacy. 

"The  territories  of  the  Cherokees,  Chelakees,  or 
more  properly,  Tsalakies,"  says  Mr.  Gallatin, "  extended 

1  "  History  of  the  Province  of  Georgia,"  etc.,  p.  55.    Worrnslo'e,  1849. 

2  "  Collections  of  the  Georgia  Historical  Society,"  vol.  iii.,  part  1.,  p.  18,  c^ 
seq.  Savannah,  1848.  See,  also,  "A  Voyage  to  Georgia,"  begun  in  the  year 
1*735,  by  Francis  Moore,  p.  61.     London,  1*744. 

3  "  History  of  the  Province  of  Georgia,"  by  De  P.rahm,  p.  55.  AVorrasloe, 
1849.  Adair's  "History  of  the  Noi'thAmerican  Indians,"  p.  257,  et  seq.  London> 
1*775.     "  Travels,"  etc.,  by  William  Bartram,  p.  461,  et  seq.    London,  1702. 

4  "  Concise  Natural  History  of  East  and  West  Florida,"  etc.,  p.  90.  New 
York,  1775. 


TEREITOEY    OF   THE    CHEEOKEES.  j 

north  and  south  of  the  southwesterly  continuation  of 
the  Appalachian  Mountains,  embracing  on  the  north 
the  country  on  Tennessee  or  Cherokee  River  and  its 
tributary  streams,  from  their  sources  down  to  the  vi- 
cinity of  the  Muscle  Shoals,  where  they  were  bound- 
ed on  the  west  by  the  Chicasas.  The  Cumberland 
mountain  may  be  considered  as  having  been  the  bound- 
ary on  the  north;  but,  since  the  country  has  been 
known  to  us,  no  other  Indian  nation,  except  some 
small  bands  of  Shawnoes,  had  any  settlement  between 
that  mountain  and  the  Ohio."  On  the  west  side  of  the 
Savannah,  the  Cherokees  were  confronted  on  the  south 
by  the  Creeks,  the  division-line  being  Broad  River  and 
generally  along  the  thirty-fourth  parallel  of  north  lati- 
tude. East  of  the  Savannah,  their  original  seats  em- 
braced the  upper  waters  of  that  river,  of  the  Santee, 
and,  probably,  of  the  Yadkin,  but  could  not  have  ex- 
tended as  far  south  as  the  thirty-fourth  degree  of  north 
latitude.  They  were  bounded  on  the  south,  probably, 
by  Muskhogee  tribes  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Savannah, 
and,  farther  east,  by  the  Catawbas.1 

Between  the  Shawnoes  and  the  Cherokees  prolonged 
strife  occurred,  which  resulted  in  the  expulsion  of  the 
former  from  the  country  south  of  the  Ohio.  With  the 
Creeks  also  the  Cherokees  were  constantly  at  variance. 
When  in  1730  the  whites  interposed  their  good  offices 
to  bring  about  a  pacification  between  the  Tuscaroras 
and  the  Cherokees,  the  latter  responded :  "  We  cannot 
live  without  war;  should  we  make  peace  with  the  Tus- 
caroras, with  whom  we  are  at  war,  we  must  imme- 
diately look  out  for  some  other  with  whom  we  can  be 
engaged  in  our  beloved  occupation."  3 

1  "  Archajologia  Americana,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  90. 

2  Haywood's  "  Xatural  and  Aborigiual  History  of  Tennessee,"  p.  238.     Nash- 
ville, 1823. 


8  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEEN   INDIANS. 

The  history  of  the  Cherokees  is  marked  by  con- 
tinued and  prolonged  struggles.  Their  country  being 
strong,  their  men  trained  to  arms,  and  the  integrity  of 
the  nation  at  all  times  wonderfully  preserved,  these 
peoj3les  do  not  appear,  in  their  territorial  possessions,  to 
have  been  materially  injured  by  their  frequent  contests 
with  adjacent  tribes.  In  1762  Adair  estimated  the 
number  of  their  warriors  at  three  thousand  two  hun- 
dred, and  adds,  he  was  informed  that,  forty  years  before, 
they  had  at  least  six  thousand  men  capable  of  bearing 
arms.1 

In  perpetuating  his  impressions  of  the  physical 
chaeacteeistics  of  the  Southern  Indians,  Mr.  Bartram 2 
writes:  "The  males  of  the  Cherokees,  Muscogulgees, 
Siminoles,  Chicasaws,  Chactaws,  and  confederate  tribes 
of  the  Creeks,  are  tall,  erect,  and  moderately  robust ; 
their  limbs  well  shaped,  so  as  generally  to  form  a  per- 
fect human  figure ;  their  features  regular  and  counte- 
nance open,  dignified,  and  placid  ;  yet  the  forehead  and 
brow  so  formed  as  to  strike  you  instantly  with  heroism 
and  bravery ;  the  eye,  though  rather  small,  active  and 
full  of  fire ;  the  iris  always  black,  and  the  nose  com- 
monly inclining  to  the  aquiline.  Their  countenance  and 
actions  exhibit  an  air  of  magnanimity,  superiority,  and 
independence.  Their  complexion  of  a  reddish  brown 
or  copper  color ;  their  hair  long,  lank,  coarse,  and  black 
as  a  raven,  and  reflecting  the  like  lustre  at  different 
exposures  to  the  light.  The  women  of  the  Cherokees 
are  tall,  slender,  erect,  and  of  a  delicate  frame ;  their 
features  formed  with  perfect  symmetry,  their  counte- 
nance cheerful  and  friendly ;  and  they  move  with  a 
becoming  grace  and  dignity. 

1  "  History  of  the  American  Indians,"  p.  227.     London,  1115. 

2  "  Travels  through  Xorth  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia,"  etc.,  p.  481.     Lon- 
don, 1792. 


THE   MUSCOGULGEES    AXD    CHEROKEES.  9 

"  The  Muscogulgee  women,  though  remarkably  short 
of  stature,  are  well  formed  ;  their  visage  round,  features 
regular  and  beautiful,  the  brow  high  and  arched  ;  'the 
eye  large,  black,  and  languishing,  expressive  of  modesty, 
diffidence,  and  bashfulness;  these  charms  are  their  de- 
fensive and  offensive  weapons;  and  they  know  very 
well  how  to  play  them  off;  and,  under  cover  of  these 
alluring  graces,  are  concealed  the  most  subtle  artifices; 
they  are,  however,  loving  and  affectionate  ;  they  are,  I 
believe,  the  smallest  race  of  women  yet  known,  seldom 
above  five  feet  high,  and  I  believe  the  greater  number 
never  arrive  to  that  stature ;  their  hands  and  feet  not 
larger  than  those  of  Europeans  of  nine  or  ten  years  of 
age;  yet  the  men  are  of  gigantic  stature,  a  full  size 
larger  than  Europeans  ;  many  of  them  above  six  feet, 
and  few  under  that,  or  five  feet  eight  or  ten  inches. 
Their  complexion  much  darker  than  any  of  the  tribes 
to  the  north  of  them  that  I  have  seen.  This  descrip- 
tion will,  I  believe,  comprehend  the  Muscogulges,  their 
confederates,  the  Chactaws,  and,  I  believe,  the  Chica- 
saws  (though  I  have  never  seen  their  women),  except- 
ing some  bands  of  the  Siminoles,  Uches,  and  Savaunu- 
cas,  who  are  rather  taller  and  slenderer  and  their 
complexion  brighter. 

"  The  Cherokees  are  yet  taller  and  more  robust  than 
the  Muscogulges,  and  by  far  the  largest  race  of  men  I 
have  seen ;  their  complexions  brighter  and  somewhat  of 
the  olive  cast,  especially  the  adults  ;  and  some  of  their 
young  women  are  nearly  as  fair  and  blooming  as  Euro- 
pean women. 

"  The  Cherokees,  in  their  dispositions  and  manners, 
are  grave  and  steady;  dignified  and  circumspect  in 
their  deportment ;  rather  slow  and  reserved  in  conver- 
sation ;  yet  frank,  cheerful,  and  humane ;  tenacious  of 


10  ANTIQUITIES    OP   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

the  liberties  and  natural  rights  of  man ;  secret,  delib- 
erate, and  determined  in  their  councils;  honest,  just, 
and  liberal,  and  ready  always  to  sacrifice  every  pleasure 
and  gratification,  even  their  blood  and  life  itself  to  de- 
fend their  territory  and  maintain  their  rights.  .  .  . 

"  The  national  character  of  the  Muscogulges,  when 
considered  in  a  political  view,  exhibits  a  protraiture 
of  a  great  or  illustrious  hero.  A  proud,  haughty,  and 
arrogant  race  of  men,  they  are  brave  and  valiant  in 
war,  ambitious  of  conquest,  restless  and  perpetually 
exercising  their  arms,  yet  magnanimous  and  merciful 
to  a  vanquished  enemy  when  he  submits  and  seeks  their 
friendship  and  protection;  always  uniting  the  van- 
quished tribes  in  confederacy  with  them :  when  they 
immediately  enjoy,  unexceptionably,  every  right  of  free 
citizens,  and  are,  from  that  moment,  united  in  one 
common  band  of  brotherhood.  They  were  never  known 
to  exterminate  a  tribe,  except  the  Yamasees,  who  would 
never  submit  on  any  terms,  but  fought  it  out  to  the 
last,  only  about  forty  or  fifty  of  them  escaping  at  the 
last  decisive  battle,  who  threw  themselves  under  the 
protection  of  the  Spaniards,  at  St.  Augustine.  .  .  . 
The  Muscogulges  are  more  volatile,  sprightly,  and  talk- 
ative, than  their  northern  neighbors,  the  Cherokees." 

The  system  of  government  obtaining  among  these 
Southern  nations  seems,  in  its  general  features,  to  have 
been  quite  similar.  In  the  Muscogulgee  confederacy 
every  town  or  village  was  regarded  as  an  independent 
nation  or  tribe  having  its  own  mico  or  chief.  In  the 
soil  and  in  the  hunting  privileges  of  the  region  each 
inhabitant  had  an  equal  right.  Private  property  in 
habitations  and  in  planting-grounds,  however,  was 
conceded  and  respected. 


THE   MICO    AND    GREAT   WAE-CHTEF.  11 

The  Mico1  was  considered  the  first  man,  in  dignity 
and  power,  in  his  nation  or  town.  He  was  the  su- 
preme civil  magistrate,  and  presided  over  the  national 
council.  His  executive  power  was  not  independent, 
however,  of  the  council,  which  convened  every  day,  in 
th  3  forenoon,  in  the  public  square.  This  office  of  mico 
or  king  was  elective.  The  advancement  to  this  su- 
preme dignity  was  always  conferred  upon  the  person 
most  worthy  of  it. 

Next  in  the  order  of  dignity  and  power  was  the 
Great  War-Chief.  He  led  the  army.  In  council 
his  seat  was  nearest  the  mico,  on  his  left,  and  at  the 
head  of  the  most  celebrated  warriors.  On  the  right 
of  the  mico  sat  the  second  head-man  of  the  tribe,  and 
below  him  the  younger  warriors  of  the  nation. 

When  assembled  in  the  Great  Rotunda,  or  Winter 
Council-House,  for  the  purpose  of  deliberating  upon 
matters  of  general  concern,  the  most  profound  respect 
and  homage  were  paid  by  every  one  to  the  mico.  To. 
him  the  members  of  the  council  bowed  very  low,  almost 
to  his  feet,  when  the  cup-bearer  handed,  him  the  shell 
filled  with  the  black-drink.2  This  decoction  of  the 
leaves  and  tender  twigs  of  the  cassine  or  ilex  yupon 
was  freely  used  by  the  natives  upon  occasions  of  sol- 
emn deliberation.  Being  a  most  active  and  powerful 
diuretic,  its  purgative  influences  were  invoked  to  free 
their  bodies  from  all  hinderance  to  thought ;  and,  thus 
prepared  for  careful  discussion,  they  entered  upon  the 
consideration  of  the  important  matters  presented  for 
the  action  of  council.  De  Bry  presents  us  with  a  spir- 
ited sketch  of  the  king  and  warriors  in  convention 

1  "Transactions  of  the  American  Ethnological  Society,"  vol.  iii.,  part  1,  p.  23. 
Compare  Lawson's  "History  of  Carolina,"  p.  195.     London,  1714. 

2  "  Brevis  Xarratio,"  plate  xxix.     Francoforti    ad  Mcenum,  De  Bry.     Anno 
1591. 


12  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

assembled,  drinking  freely  of  this  cassine  from  shell- 
cups  and  listening  to  the  animated  address  of  one  of 
the  principal  men.  When  out  of  the  council-house, 
and  unemployed,  in  public  affairs,  the  intercourse  be- 
tween the  mico  and  the  common  people  was  cordial 
and  free  from  restraint.  If  we  may  credit  the  repre- 
sentations of  De  Bry,1  no  little  ceremony  was  observed 
when  the  kings  and  queens  of  the  Florida  tribes  ap- 
peared in  public.  The  mico  alone  had  the  disposal  of 
the  corn  and  fruits  collected  in  the  public  granary. 
These  general  storehouses,  circular  in  form — their 
walls  constructed  of  stone  and  earth,  and  their  roofs 
fashioned  with  the  branches  of  trees,  grass,  clay,  and 
palmetto-leaves — were  located  in  the  neighborhood  of 
streams  and  in  retired  spots  where  they  were  protected 
from  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun.  They  were  built  and 
furnished*  by  the  common  labor  of  the  tribe,  and  in 
them  were  stored  corn;  various  fruits,  and  the  flesh  of 
fishes,  deer,  alligators,  snakes,  dogs,  and  other  animals, 
previously  smoked  and  dried  on  a  scaffold.2 

With  the  first  fruits  of  the  season  was  the  king 
complimented.  It  was  his  province  to  give  audience  to 
ambassadors,  deputies,  and  strangers,  and  to  him  were 
public  presents  offered.  He  alone  had  the  privilege 
of  giving  a  general  feast  to  an  entire  village,  on  which 
occasion  the  king's  standard  was  displayed  in  front  of 
his  house,  a  flag  hoisted  in  the  public  square,  drums 
beat  about  the  town,  and  the  inhabitants  busily  en- 
gaged in  painting  and  dressing  themselves  for  the 
festivities.  In  the  sixteenth  century,  the  Florida  war- 
riors, when  about  to  set  out  on  a  hostile  expedition, 

1  "Brevis  Xarratio,"  plates  xxxvii.,  xxxviii.,  and  xxxix.     Francoforti  ad  Moe- 
uum.     Anno  1591. 

-  See  plates  xxii.,  xxiii.,  and  xxiw,  of  the  "  Brevis  Narratio.1' 


THE    OFFICE    OF   KING.  13 

assembled  round  their  king,  who,  taking  a  dipper  of 
water  and  sprinkling  them,  exclaimed,  "  As  I  have  scat- 
tered this  water,  so  do  you  cause  the  blood  of  your 
enemies  to  flow  freely."  Then,  with  water  from 
another  vessel,  extinguishing  a  fire  kindled  in  the  cir- 
cle, he  added,  "  As  I  have  put  out  this  flame,  so  may 
you  vanquish  and  destroy  your  antagonists."  ' 

It  would  appear  that,  on  some  occasions,  the  king, 
when  about  to  enter  into  battle,  was  borne  upon  a 
platform  elevated  upon  the  heads  and  shoulders  of  his 
men.2 

The  care  and  protection  of  widows,  whose  hus- 
bands had  fallen  in  battle  or  perished  by  disease, 
devolved  upon  the  king.3 

Capital  punishment  was  meted  out  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  mico  and  council  seated  in  a  semicircle,  the 
victim  kneeling  in  the  centre,  and  the  executioner,  his 
left  foot  upon  the  back  of  the  criminal,  with  a  stout, 
paddle-shaped  club  made  of  hard  wood,  striking  him 
upon  the  top  of  the  head  with  such  violence  as  to  split 
the  skull.4 

The  custom  obtained  among  some  of  the  Southern 
nations  of  sacrificing  to  the  king  the  first-born  male 
child.5 

The  office  of  king  was  for  life,  or  during  good  be- 
havior. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  to  the  kingly  office, 
among  most  of  the  Southern  tribes,  appertained  des- 
potic powers.  Especially  was  this  the  fact  at  the 
period  of  our  first  acquaintance  with  the  form  of  gov- 
ernment dominant  among  these  peoples.     By  at  least 

i  uBrevis  Xarratio,"  plate  xi.        -  Ibid.,  plate  xiii.       3  Ibid.,  plate  xxiii. 
4  Ibid.,  plate  xxxii.         5  Ibid.,  plate  xxxiii. 


14  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

one  of  the  early  historians  are  we  assured  that,  in  sa- 
luting a  cacique,  the  subject  used  gestures,  somewhat 
modified  in  degree,  but  similar  in  form  to  those  em- 
ployed in  the  adoration  of  the  sun.  The  intimation  is 
that  in  his  person  and  positiou  were  recognized  a  su- 
periority, a  dignity,  and  an  authority  near  akin,  but 
subordinate  to  those  which  inhered  in  the  celestial 
luminary — the  most  potent  and  admirable  representa- 
tive of  the  goodness  and  supremacy  of  the  Great 
Spirit. 

Colonel  Hawkins1  thus  epitomizes  the  duties  of 
the  Creek  mico  in  1798  :  The  mico  of  the  town  super- 
intends all  public  and  domestic  concerns,  receives 
all  public  characters,  hears  their  talks,  lays  them  be- 
fore the  town  and  delivers  the  talks  of  his  town.  The 
mico  of  a  town  is  always  chosen  from  some  one  fam- 
ily. The  mico  of  Tuck-au-bat-che  is  of  the  eagle 
tribe  (Lum-ul-gee).  After  he  is  chosen  and  put  on 
his  seat,  he  remains  for  life.  On  his  death,  if  his 
nephews  are  fit  for  the  office,  one  of  them  takes  his 
place  as  his  successor ;  if  they  are  unfit,  one  is  chosen 
of  the  next  of  kin,  the  descent  being  always  in  the 
female  line. 

When  a  mico,  from  age,  infirmity,  or  any  other 
cause,  wants  an  assistant,  he  selects .  a  man  who  ap- 
pears to  him  the  best  qualified,  and  proposes  him  to 
the  councillors  and  great  men  of  the  town,  and,  if  he  is 
approved  by  them,  they  appoint  him  as  an  assistant 
in  public  affairs. 

The  mico,  councillors,  and  warriors,  meet  every  day 
in  the  public  square,  sit  and  drink  a-cee — a  strong 
decoction  of  the  cassine  yupon,  called  by  the  traders 

1  "Sketch  of  the  Creek  Country."     Collections  of  the  Georgia  Historical  Soci- 
ety, vol.  iii.,  part  i.,  p.  G'J.     Savannah,  1848. 


WAE,    PEACE,    PUBLIC    BUILDINGS.  15 

black-drink — talk  of  news,  the  public  and  domestic 
concerns,  smoke  their  pipes  and  play  thla-chal-litch-cau. 
They  have  a  regular  ceremony  for  making  as  well  as 
delivering  the  a-cee  to  all  who  attend  the  square.  In 
all  transactions  which  require  secrecy  the  rulers  meet 
in  the  chooc-ofau-thluc-co — the  rotunda  or  assembly- 
room  called  by  the  traders  liot-lwuse — kindle  the  spiral 
hre,  deliberate,  and  decide.  When  they  have  decided 
on  any  case  of  death  or  whipping,  the  mico  appoints 
the  warriors  who  are  to  carry  it  into  effect,  or  he  gives 
the  judgment  to  the  great  warrior  (tustunnuggee- 
thluc-co)  and'  leaves  to  him  the  time  and  manner  of 
executing  it. 

War  is  always  determined  on  by  the  great  warrior. 
If  the  mico  and  warriors  are  of  opinion  that  the  town 
has  been  injured,  it  is  the  province  of  the  former  to 
lift  the  hatchet  against  the  offending  nation.  Even 
after  a  declaration  of  war,  however,  the  mico  and 
councillors  may  interpose  and  proceed  to  adjust  the 
misunderstanding  by  negotiations. 

Peace  is  concluded  by  the  mico  and  councillors, 
and  peace-talks  are  always  addressed  to  the  cabin  of 
the  mico.  It  is  the  privilege  of  the  mico  and  coun- 
cillors to  fix  the  precise  time  for  the  celebration  of  the 
annual  festival  of  the  Boos-ke-tan. 

Of  the  buildings  which  formed  the  public  square 
in  the  Creek  villages,  the  first  in  rank  was  the  mic-ul- 
gee-in-too-pau,  or  mico's  cabin.  It  fronts  the  east. 
The  centre  of  this  building  is  occupied  by  the  mico, 
the  right  division  by  the  mic-ug-gee  and  the  council- 
lors, and  the  left  division  by  the  people  second  in  com- 
mand, who  have  the  direction  of  the  public  work- 
appertaining  to  the  town. 

Second  in  rank  is  the  tus-tun-nug-ul-gee-in-too-pau. 


10  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

or  warrior's  cabin.  This  fronts  the  south.  At  the 
west  end  of  this  cabin  sits  the  head-warrior.  In  this 
division  are  seated  also  the  great  warriors.  The  next 
in  rank  sit  in  the  centre  division,  and  the  young  war- 
riors in  the  third.  These  warriors  rise  by  merit,  and 
the  great-warrior  is  selected  by  the  mico  and  coun- 
cillors as  the  most  noted  of  all  the  warriors.  The 
cabin  of  the  beloved  men — is-te-chaguc-ul-gee-in-too- 
pau — fronts  north  and  is  erected  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  those  who  have  been  war-leaders  and  who 
have  rendered  themselves  distinguished  by  a  long 
course  of  valuable  public  service.  Last  in  rank  is 
hut-te-mau-hug-gee-in-too-pau — the  cabin  of  the  young 
people  and  their  associates.  This  fronts  the  west.  To 
these  may  be  added  the  chooc-ofau-thluc-co — the  ro- 
tunda, or  assembly-room,  called  by  the  traders  hot- 
house. In  the  centre  of  this  is  the  spiral  lire.  This  is 
the  assembly-room  for  all  people,  old  and  young. 
Here  they  congregate  every  night,  and  amuse  them- 
selves with  dancing,  singing,  or  conversation.  In  this 
building  sometimes,  in  very  cold  weather,  the  old  and 
naked  sleep. 

In  the  absence  of  the  mico,  the  Great  War-Chief  ' 
represented  him  in  council,  and  his  voice  was  of  the 
greatest  weight  in  military  affairs.  His  authority  was 
independent  of  the  mico,  although,  should  the  mico 
enter  upon  a  military  expedition,  he  was  entitled  to 
the  command.  Subordinate  to  the  great  Avar-captain 
were  leaders  of  parties — elderly  men  distinguished  for 
valor,  strategy  and  intrepidity.  Of  such  were  their 
dignified  and  venerable  councils  composed. 

Having  by  fasts  and  purifications  prepared  them- 
selves for  the  expedition,  having  consulted  the  high- 

1  "  Bartrani's  Travels,"  p.  494.     Loudon,  1702. 


MODE    OF    WAEFAEE.  17 

priest,1  with  regard  to  the  success  of  the  enterprise,  and 
obtained  from  him  a  favorable  response,  fantastically 
painted  and  plumed,  each  carrying  a  small  bag  of 
parched  corn,  and  armed  with  a  long  bow  and  quiver 
of  arrows  suspended  from  the  light  hip,  and  frequently 
with  a  formidable  club  made  of  hard  wood,  and  a 
spear,3  the  warriors  set  off  from  the  village  with  a  great 
noise  and  defiant  shouts.  The  head- warrior,  taking  the 
lead,  was  followed  by  the  rest  in  single  file.  When 
near  the  hostile  town  or  in  the  vicinity  of  the  spot 
where  a  meeting  with  the  enemy  was  anticipated,  the 
most  profound  silence  and  careful  circumspection  were 
observed.  Their  conduct  then  resembled  the  action  of 
the  concealed  lynx  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to 
pounce  upon  its  prey  in  an  unguarded  moment.  A 
sudden  attack,  a  fearful  succession  of  wild  yells,  an  in- 
discriminate massacre,  and  the  demolition  by  fire  of  the 
habitations  of  their  enemies,  and  then  a  hasty  return 
with  captives  and  bloody  trophies  of  the  pillage  and 
butchery — these  constituted,  as  a  general  rule,  the  sum 
total  of  a  successful  military  excursion.  "  Their  nian- 
er  of  warres,"  says  Thomas  Hariot,3  "  amongst  them- 
selues  is  either  by  sudden  surprising  one  an  other  most 
commonly  about  the  dawning  of  the  day,  or  moone 
light;  or  els  by  ambushes,  or  some  suttle  deuises: 
Set  battels  are  very  rare,  excejjt  it  fall  out  where  there 
are  many  trees,  where  eyther  part  may  haue  some  hope 
of  defence,  after  the  deliuerie  of  euery  arrow,  in  leaping 
behind  some  or  other."     The  Southern  Indians  are  said 

1  "Brevis  Narratio,"  plate  xii.  "  Ibid.,  plate  xiv. 

3 "  A  Briefe  and  True  Report  of  the  Xew-found-land  of  Virginia,"  etc.,  p.  25. 
Francoforti  ad  Mcenum.  De  Bry,  anno  1590.  Compare  also  Du  Pratz's  "His- 
tory of  Louisiana,"  chapter  iii.,  book  iv.,  sec.  vii.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  242,  et  seq.  Lon- 
don, 1763.  Smith's  "  History  of  Virginia,"  Richmond  reprint,  1819,  vol.  i., 
p.  132. 

■2 


18  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE   SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

to  have  dealt  less  cruelly  with  their  captives  than  did 
their  Northern  neighbors.  The  Spaniards  found  to 
their  cost  that  the  natives  were  very  ready  with  their 
weapons. 

Says  the  Gentleman  of  Elvas,1  "  The  Indians  are  so 
warlike  and  nimble  that  they  have  no  fear  of  footmen ; 
for  if  these  charge  them,  they  flee,  and  when  they  turn 
their  backs  they  are  presently  upon  them.  They  avoid 
nothing  more  easily  than  the  flight  of  an  arrow.  They 
never  remain  quiet,  but  are  continually  running,  trav- 
ersing from  place  to  place,  so  that  neither  cross-bow 
nor  arquebuse  can  be  aimed  at  them.  Before  a  Chris- 
tian can  make  a  single  shot  with  either,  an  Indian  will 
discharge  three  or  four  arrows,  and  he  seldom  misses 
of  his  object.  Where  the  arrow  meets  with  no  armour, 
it  pierces  as  deeply  as  the  shaft  from  a  cross-bow. 
Their  bows  are  very  perfect ;  the  arrows  are  made  of 
certain  canes,  like  reeds,  very  heavy,  and  so  stiff  that 
one  of  them,  when  sharpened,  will  pass  through  a  target. 
Some  are  pointed  with  the  bone  of  a  fish,  sharp  and 
like  a  chisel ;  others  with  some  stone,  like  a  point  of 
diamond:  of  such,  the  greater  number,  where  they 
strike  upon  armour,  break  at  the  place  Avhere  the  parts 
are  put  together ;  those  of  cane  split,  and  will  enter  a 
shirt  of  mail,  doing  more  injury  than  when  armed." 

A  public  declaration  of  war  was  sometimes  made 
by  planting  arrows  along  the  pathway  leading  to  the 
principal  village  of  the  enemy.2  They  also  were  able, 
by  means  of  ignited  tufts  of  dried  moss  and  grass,  at- 
tached to  the  heads  of  their  arrows,  to  set  fire  to  the 
thatched  cabins  located  in  the  fortified  towns  of  their 

1  "  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto  in  the  Conquest  of  Florida," 
translated  by  Buckingham  Smith,  p.  26.     New  York,  1846. 

2  "  Brevis  Narratio,"  plate  xxxii. 


WARLIKE    CHARACTERISTICS.       HIGH-PRIEST.  10 

adversaries.1  The  wretched  cruelties  visited  even 
upon  the  dead  bodies  of  the  hostile  slain  are  shock- 
ingly portrayed  by  De  Bry  in  plate  xv.  of  the  "  Brevis 
Narratio." 

Courage,  craft,  perseverance,  physical  endurance, 
stoicism,  ability  to  counsel  with  wisdom  and  eloquence, 
experience  in  combat,  and  activity  and  skill  in  the  use 
of  weapons,  must  all  have  been  acquired  and  exhibited 
in  a  marked  manner  before  the  Southern  Indian  came 
to  be  regarded  as  a  leading  warrior  in  his  nation.  His 
honor  and  love  of  country  he  esteemed  of  far  greater 
value  than  life ;  and  the  most  exquisite  tortures  failed 
to  compel  him  to  surrender  and  compromise  the  one, 
or  renounce  the  other.  In  the  arts  of  strategy,  ambus- 
cade, deception,  and  personal  concealment,  they  excelled. 
Mr.  Adair,2  in  his  general  observations  on  the  North 
American  Indians,  presents  us  with  a  detailed  account 
of  the  martial  spirit,  devotion  to  country,  caution  in 
war,  method  of  fighting,  cruelty  to  captives,  fortitude 
in  view  of  death,  and  the  triumphs  accorded  to  success- 
ful warriors,  as  they  existed  among  the  Southern  In- 
dians during  the  period  of  his  residence  among  them, 
which,  did  the  limits  of  this  general  sketch  permit,  we 
would  gladly  here  reproduce. 

A  person  of  great  power  and  consequence  was  the 
Anciext  High-Priest.  He  presided  in  spiritual  af- 
fairs ;  and,  in  military  matters,  his  influence  was  most 
potent.  Never  did  the  council  determine  upon  a  hos- 
tile expedition  without  his  counsel  and  sanction.3  To 
him  was  accorded  the  ability  to  hold  personal  com- 
munion with  invisible  sjnrits  capable  of  exerting  a  con- 

1  "  Brevis  Xarratio,"  plate  xxxi. 

2  "  History  of  the  American  Indians,"  etc.,  pp.  377,  el  seq.     London,  1775. 

3  "  Brevis  Xarratio,"  plate  xii. 


20  ANTIQUITIES    OP   THE    SOTTTHEEN    INDIANS. 

trolling  influence  over  human  plans.  Through  him  the 
elements  were  propitiated,  and  his  capability  to  foresee 
the  result  of  an  enterprise  was  unquestioned. 

So  great,  remarks  Mr.  Bartram,1  is  the  influence  of 
these  high-priests,  that  they  have  been  frequently 
known  to  stop  and  turn  back  an  army  after  a  march  of 
several  hundred  miles,  and  when  it  had  approached 
within  a  day's  journey  of  the  enemy.  Their  predic- 
tions were  frequently  surprising.  They  pretended, 
^  moreover,  to  foretell  the  coming  of  a  drought,  and  to 
be  able  to  bring  rain  upon  the  thirsty  zea,  to  cure 
diseases,  invoke  or  expel  the  presence  of  evil  spirits, 
cause  the  tempest  to  cease,  and  direct  the  thunder  and 
lightning.  It  was  their  office  to  mediate  between  the 
beloved  red-people  and  the  bountiful,  holy  spirit  of 
Fire.  With  their  advice  the  season  was  set  for  plant- 
ing, and  occasions  were  designated  for  the  solemniza- 
tion of  the  public  religious  festivals.  In  every  town 
they  had  their  juniors  or  graduates  learned  in  the  con- 
jurer's and  medicine-man's  arts. 

Anions  the  Southern  tribes  the  sun  was  regarded 
as  the  symbol  of  the  power  and  beneficence  of  the 
^  Great  Spirit,  the  Supreme  God,  or  Creator,  the  soul 
and  governor  of  the  universe,  the  giver  and  taker- 
away  of  the  breath  of  life.  Hence,  to  this  celestial 
luminary  did  they  pay  profound  homage  as  to  the 
visible  minister  and  representative  of  the  author 
of  life,  and  light,  and  heat.  To  it  their  vows  were 
offered  as  they  puffed  the  smoke  from  the  great  calu- 
met toward  the  heavens.  With  reverence  did  they 
look  upon  the  face  of  this  God  of  Day,  as  they  delib- 
erated in  council,  or  set  out  upon  the  war-path.     Fire, 

1  "  Travels,"  etc.,  p.  495.     Loudon,  1*792.     "Transactions  of  the  American 
Ethnological  Society,"  vol.  iii.,  part  i.,  p.  24. 


SUN-WOESHIP.       SUPEESTITIONS.  21 

as  an  emanation  from  this  celestial  source,  they  vener- 
ated and  propitiated  with  mysterious  rites  and  cere- 
monies. Temples  were  erected  at  great  cost  of  mate- 
rial and  labor  for  this  sun-worship,  in  which  priests 
officiated.  Their  province  it  was  to  guard  the  Eternal 
Fire  in  the  Kotunda ;  and,  in  the  solemn,  annual  festi- 
val of  the  Busque,  when  all  the  fires  of  the  nation 
were  extinguished,  the  high-priest  alone — ministering 
between  the  Great  Spirit  and  man — was  commissioned, 
in  the  temple,  to  reproduce  the  celestial  spark  and 
give  new  fire  to  the  community. 

Believing  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  in  a  future 
state  of  rewards  and  punishments,  acknowledging  the 
supreme  power  and  control  of  one  great,  invisible, 
supreme  spirit,  these  Southern  Indians  were  plagued 
with  an  apprehension  of  visions,  dreams,  trances,  and 
malign  influences  of  lesser  divinities,  which  afforded 
ample  scope  for  the  operation  by  priests  and  conjurers 
using  incantations,  charms,  and  mysterious  appliances 
upon  their  hopes  and  fears,  credulity,  and  superstitions. 
Upon  the  death  of  a  high-priest,  the  entire  community 
united  in  paying  the  fullest  funeral  honors,  and  heaped 
above  him  the  conical  earth-mound.1 

If  we  may  credit  the  assertion  of  the  Gentleman 
of  Elvas,2  some  of  the  Florida  tribes  worshipped  the 
devil,  and  made  offerings  of  human  sacrifices  to  the 
spirit  of  evil. 

Toward  the  latter  part  of  February  in  each  year, 
the  Indians  of  Florida,  taking  the  skin  of  the  largest 
stag  they  had  killed,  stuffed  it  with  the  choicest  fruits 
and  matters  which  chiefly  delighted  them.     The  horns, 

1  "  Brevis  Narratio,"  plate  xl. 

-  "Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto,"  etc.,  translated  by  Buck- 
ingham Smith,  p.  31.     Xew  York,  1866. 


22  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

neck,  and  body  were  encircled  with  vines  and  fruits 
most  rare.  Thus  attired,  the  stag,  with  music  and 
parade,  was  carried  and  placed  upon  the  top  of  a 
tall  tree,  with  its  head  and  breast  turned  full  toward 
the  rising  sun.  By  the  king  and  high-priest — who 
stationed  themselves  nearest  the  tree — prayers  were 
addressed  to  this  celestial  luminary,  and  petitions  of- 
fered that  he  would  be  pleased  to  reproduce  the  good 
gifts  which  were  then  presented.  The  members  of  the 
tribe  assembled  in  a  circle,  and,  at  a  little  remove,  re- 
peated these  supplications.  When  they  were  finished, 
all  having  saluted  the  sun,  departed,  leaving  the 
stuffed  and  garlanded  stag  until  the  recurrence  of  the 
same  season,  when,  on  each  ensuing  year,  similar  cere- 
monies were  observed.1 

It  is  probable  that  some  of  the  larger  terraced 
mounds  and  truncated  pyramids  were  temples  erected 
in  honor  of,  and  devoted  to  the  worship  of  the  sun. 

Within  the  historic  period  idol-worship  existed,  at 
least  to  a  limited  extent,  among  the  Southern  Indians. 
We  will  have  occasion,  however,  in  a  subsequent  chap- 
ter, to  consider  this  interesting  subject  somewhat  at 
length. 

Among  the  Natchez  the  machinery  of  temples, 
idols,  priests,  keepers  of  sacred  things,  and  sundry 
religious  festivals,  was  most  elaborate.  The  preserva- 
tion of  the  eternal  fire  en^as;ed  their  utmost  solicitude. 
The  Sun  ruled  with  despotic  power,  and  seemed  in  his 
person  to  unite  the  privileges  of  king  and  high-priest. 
Here  were  observed  more  emphatically  than  among  any 
other  Southern  tribes  the  distinctions  of  rank.  The 
common  people — or  Miche-Miche-Quipy  (Stinkards) 
— were,  to  the  last  degree,  submissive  to  the  nobility, 

1  "  Brevis  Narratio,"  plate  xxv. 


THE    SUN   AMONG   THE    NATCHEZ.  23 

consisting  of  Suns,  nobles,  and  men  of  rank.  These 
Sims  claimed  to  be  the  descendants  of  the  man  and 
woman  who  came  down  from  the  sun ;  and  their  chil- 
dren, to  the  remotest  degree,  were  distinguished  above 
the  bulk  of  the  nation  and  enjoyed  an  exemption 
from  capital  punishment.  By  them  it  was  ordained 
that  nobility  should  be  transmitted  only  through  the 
women.  Upon  the  death  of  a  Sun,  many  subjects, 
both  male  and  female,  were  sacrificed.  No  greater 
calamity  could  befall  the  nation  than  the  extinction  of 
the  eternal  fire.1 

The  great  chief  of  the  Natchez  bore  the  appella- 
tion of  The  Sun.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  kingly 
..  office  by  the  son  of  the  woman  who  was  most  nearly 
related  to  him.2  To  this  woman  the  title  of  woman 
chief  was  given.  Great  honors  were  paid  to  her,  al- 
though she  meddled  not  in  affairs  of  state.  Like  the 
great  chief,  she  possessed  the  power  of  life  and  death 
over  the  common  people,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  order 
her  guards  to  slay  any  who  offended  her. 

Every  morning,  says  Father  Charlevoix,3  as  soon 
as  the  sun  appears,  the  great  chief  comes  to  the  door 
of  his  cabin,  turns  himself  to  the  east,  and  howls 
three  times,  bowing  down  to  the  earth.  Then  they 
bring  him  a  calumet,  which  is  used  only  for  this  pur- 
pose. This  he  smokes,  and  blows  the  smoke  of  the  to- 
bacco first  toward  the  sun,  and  then  toward  the  other 
three  cardinal  points.  He  acknowledges  no  superior 
other  than  the  sun.     From  this  luminary  he  claims  to 

1  See  Du  Prats' s  "History  of  Louisiana,"  vol.  ii.,  chap,  iii.,  sec.  2-4,  pp.  170, 
222.     London,  1763. 

2  Among  the  Carolina  Indians  the  succession  fell  not  to  the  king's  son,  but  to 
his  sister's  son  (Lawson's  "  History  of  Carolina,"  p.  195.  London,  1714),  and 
it  appears  that  a  similar  rule   obtained  among  other  Southern  tribes. 

8  "  Voyage  to  North  America,"  etc.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  196.     DubliD,  1766. 


24  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

derive  his  origin.  Over  his  subjects  he  exercises  un- 
limited power,  can  dispose  at  pleasure  of  their  prop- 
erty and  lives,  and  pays  no  recompense  for  any  labors 
he  may  demand  of  them. 

The  death  of  a  great  chief  costs  the  lives  of  his 
guards,  and  sometimes  of  more  than  a  hundred  per- 
sons. At  one  time  very  few  of  the  principal  personages 
died  without  being  escorted  to  the  country  of  souls  by 
some  of  their  relations,  friends,  or  servants.  Suspect- 
ing the  death  of  De  Soto,  the  Cacique  of  Guachoya 
ordered  two  well-proportioned  young  Indian  men  to  be 
brought,  saying  it  was  the  usage  of  the  country,  when 
any  lord  died,  to  kill  some  persons  who  might  accom- 
pany and  serve  him  on  the  way  to  the  spirit-land.  He, 
therefore,  ordered  their  heads  to  be  struck  off,  and  it 
was  only  after  much  persuasion,  and  upon  the  em- 
phatic statement  that  the  governor  was  not  dead  but 
had  only  gone  on  a  visit  to  the  heavens,  attended  by  a 
suitable  number  of  soldiers,  that  Luys  cle  Moscoso 
succeeded  in  effecting  the  release  of  these  young 
Indians.1 

The  tribes  encountered  by  De  Soto  during  his 
march  east  of  the  Mississippi  were  ruled  over  by 
caciques  to  whom  their  subjects  yielded  implicit  obe- 
dience. The  province  of  Cutifachiqui,  however,  was 
governed  by  a  cacica  who  welcomed  the  Spanish  ad- 
venturer right  royally,  and  extended  to  him  the  hos- 
pitalities of  her  kingdom.  The  stern  of  her  canoe  was 
covered  with  an  awning,  and  she  sat  upon  cushions. 
The  country  was  delightful  and  fertile,  and  here  were 
found,  in  the  possession  of  the  natives  and  in  the 
barbacoas,  large   quantities   of  clothing,  and   shawls 

1  "  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  De  Soto,"  translated  by  Bucking- 
ham Sinitb,  p.  148.     New  York,  1866. 


MAUSOLEUM   AT   TALOMECO.  25 

made  of  fibres  of  the  bark  of  trees  and  of  feathers 
richly  colored  in  white,  gray,  vermilion,  and  yellow, 
suitable  for  winter  wear — well-dressed  deer-skins  with 
various  designs  depicted  upon  them — and  many  pearls. 
The  inhabitants,  says  the  Gentleman  of  Elvas,  were 
brown  of  skin,  well  formed  and  admirably  propor- 
tioned. He  distinctly  affirms  that  they  were  more 
civilized  than  any  peoples  he  had  seen  in  all  the  terri- 
tories of  Florida,  and  that  they  wore  clothes  and  shoes. 
To  this  cacica  her  subjects  paid  great  respect,  and  her 
niece  was  at  first  commissioned  to  meet  De  Soto  and 
assure  him  of  the  good-will  of  the  queen.  Mention  is 
also  made  of  the  queen-mother,  a  widow,  who,  repos- 
ing upon  her  dignity,  refused  to  hold  converse  with 
the  strangers. 

At  Talomeco  was  a  mausoleum  a  hundred  paces  in 
length  and  forty  in  breadth,  with  lofty  roofs  of  reed. 
The  entrance  to  this  temple  was  guarded  by  gigantic 
wooden  statues,  carved  with  considerable  skill,  the 
largest  of  them  being  twelve  feet  high.  Armed  with 
various  weapons,  they  stood  in  threatening  attitudes 
and  with  ferocious  looks.  Within  were  statues  of 
various  shapes  and  sizes.  Around  the  sepulchre  were 
benches  upon  which,  in  wooden  chests  skilfully 
wrought,  but  without  locks  or  hinges,  reposed  the 
bodies  of  the  departed  caciques,  priests,  and  chieftains 
of  Cutifachiqui.  Beside  these  were  smaller  chests,  and 
cane  baskets  filled  with  valuable  furs,  robes  of  dressed 
skins,  and  mantles  made  of  the  inner  rind  of  trees  and 
of  a  species  of  grass  which,  when  beaten,  closely  resem- 
bled flax.  There  were  coverings  formed  of  feathers  of 
various  colors,  which  the  natives  wore  in  winter. 
This  temple  also  contained  great  store  of  pearls. 

Adjacent  to  this  grand  sepulchral  receptacle  were 


26  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

several  buildings  which  served  as  armories.  In  them 
weapons  of  various  sorts  were  carefully  arranged  and 
kept  in  order  "by  numerous  attendants.1  The  erection 
of  temples  or  buildings,  and  their  dedication  to  the 
preservation  of  the  bodies  of  their  chiefs  obtained  also 
among  other  Southern  tribes.  Thus,  in  plate  xxii. 
of  the  "  Admiranda  Narratio,"  we  have  a  representa- 
tion of  one  of  these  sepulchres  as  it  existed  among  the 
Virginia  Indians  in  the  sixteenth  century.  The  ex- 
planatory note  is  thus  quaintly  "  made  in  English  "  by 
Thomas  Hariot,  servant  to  Sir  Walter  Kaleigh  : 

THE   TOMBE   OF   THEIR   WER0WAXS   OR    CHEIFF    LORDES. 

"  The  builde  a  Scaffolde  9  or  10  foote  hihe  as  is 
expressed  in  this  figure  under  the  tobs  of  theit  Wero- 
ans,  or  cheefe  lordes  which  they  couer  with  matts, 
and  lai  the  dead  corpses  of  their  weroans  thereuppon 
in  manner  followinge.  First  the  bowells  are  taken 
forth e.  Then  layinge  down  the  skinne,  they  cutt  all 
the  flesh  cleane  from  the  bones,  which  the  drye  in 
the  sonne,  and  well  dryed  the  inclose  in  Matts  and 
place  at  their  feete.  Then  their  bones  (remaininge 
still  fastened  together  with  the  ligaments  whole  and 
vncorrupted)  are  couered  agayne  with  leather,  and 
their  carcase  fashioned  as  yf  their  flesh  wear  not 
taken  away.  They  lapp  eache  corps  in  his  owne  • 
skinne  after  the  same  in  thus  handled,  and  lay  yt  in 
his  order  by  the  corpses  of  the  other  cheef  lordes.  By 
the  dead  bodies  they  sett  their  idol  Kiwasa,  whereof 
we  spake  in  the  former  chapiter.  For  they  are  per- 
suaded that  the  same  doth  kepe  the  dead  bodyes  of 
their  cheefe  lordes  that,  nothinge  may  hurt  them. 
Moreouer  under  the  foresaid  scaffolde  some  on  of  their 

1  Irving's  "  Conquest  of  Florida,"  chapter  xlviii. 


TOMBS    OF   THE    VIRGINIA   KINGS.  21 

preists  hath  his  lodginge,  which  Mumbleth  his  prayers 
night e  and  day,  and  hath  charge  of  the  corpses.  For 
his  bedd  he  hath  two  deares  skinnes  spredd  on  the 
grownde,  yf  the  wether  bee  cold  hee  maketh  a  fyre  to 
warme  by  withal! .  Thes  poore  sonles  are  thus  in- 
structed by  natute  to  reuerence  their  princes  euen  after 
their  death."1 

Caves  were  sometimes  dedicated  to  similar  uses. 

1  "  A  Briefe  and  True  Report  of  the  New-found-land  of  Virginia,  etc.,  made 
in  English  by  Tboraas  Hariot."  Tlate  xxii.  and  explanatory  note.  Francoforti  ad 
Hoenum.     De  Bry.    Anno  1590. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Office  of  the  Conjurer  or  Medicine-man. — Treatment  of  the  Sick. — Medicinal 
Plants. — Towns  and  Private  Houses. — Tenure  of  Property.— Agricultural 
Pursuits. — Town  Plantations  and  Private  Gardens. — Public  Granaries.— Ani- 
mal and  Vegetable  Food. — Mechanical  Labors. — Early  Mining  in  Duke's-Creek 
Valley. — Manufacture  of  Canoes,  Pottery,  Copper  Implements,  Gold,  Silver, 
shell,  and  Stone  Ornaments. — Various  Implements  and  Articles  of  Stone, 
Bone,  and  Wood. — Trade  Relations. 

Another  important  person  in  every  community 
was  the  Conjurer,  who  generally  united  in  himself 
the  offices  of  priest,  physician,  and  fortune-teller.  He 
was  supposed  to  possess  unusual  powers  because  of  his 
constant  communion  with  and  influence  over  evil  spir- 
its. Various  and  extravagant  were  his  incantations, 
his  charms  mysterious  and  unexplained,  and  his  con- 
tortions, when  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  arts,  pro- 
longed and  violent.  His  knowledge  of  medicinal 
herbs  and  simples  gave  him  a  decided  advantage  over 
the  unlearned.  Encouraging  the  superstitions  of  his 
patients,  he  pretended  to  work  wonderful  cures,  and 
acquired  wherever  he  went  an  influence  most  marked 
in  its  character.  In  the  explanatory  note  accompany- 
ing plate  xx.  of  the  "  Brevis  Narratio,"  we  are  made 
acquainted  with  several  methods  adopted  by  the  Flor- 
ida Indians  in  their  treatment  of  «the  sick.  One  rem- 
edy consisted  in  scarifying  the  forehead  of  the  patient 
with  a  shell,  and  sucking  therefrom  the  blood  and  hu- 


TREATMENT    OE   THE    SICK.       JAOUISTAS.  29 

mors  which  were  supposed  to  contain  the  seeds  of  the 
disease.  Others,  suffering  from  different  maladies, 
were  compelled  to  lie  upon  their  stomachs  with  their 
heads  over  pans,  from  which  they  inhaled,  through 
their  mouths  and  nostrils,  the  fumes  of  certain  medici- 
nal plants  in  a  state-  of  ignition.  Tobacco-smoking 
was  also  employed  as  a  means  of  expelling  disease. 
To  Coreal !  we  are  indebted  for  the  following-  inter- 
esting  account  of  the  office  of  the  medicine-men  among 
the  Florida  tribes : 

"  When  they  are  sick  they  have  not  a  vein  opened, 
according  to  our  practice,  but  send  for  their  Jaounas 
who  are  their  priests  and  jxhysicians.  The  latter  suck 
that  part  of  the  body  which  causes  the  patient  the 
greatest  pain,  and  this  they  flo  with  the  mouth,  and 
sometimes  also  by  means  of  a  ^ind  of  shepherd's  flute 
(une  espece  de  chalumean),  after  having  made  a  small 
incision  near  some  vein.  They  also  make  incisions 
in  the  suffering  parts  of  those  who  submit  to  their 
treatment.  Previous  to  the  ceremony,  and  also  after 
the  operation,  the  jaoiina  utters  some  words.  Whether 
the  patient  dies  or  recovers,  the  jaoiina's  gravity  re- 
mains unaffected.  This  behavior  constitutes  a  part  of 
his  professional  art.  The  respect  and  confidence  with 
which  the  savages  regard  these  men  remain  the  same, 
no  matter  what  the  result  may  be. 

"  The  jaoimas  also  understand  how  to  make  their 
patients  vomit  by  means  of  a  powder  which  they  pre- 
pare from  calcined  shells.  One  must  be  a  Floridian 
or  the  devil  to  resist  the  violence  of  this  emetic,  for  I 
doubt  whether  there  exists  a  more  efficient  prescrip- 
tion for  sending  a  European  to  the  other  world.     They 

1  "Voyages  de  Francois  Coreal,  aux  Indes  Occidentals  (1 600-1097)."    Am- 
sterdam, 1T22.     Vol.  i.,  pp.  39-41. 


SO  ANTIQUITIES    OF  THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

also  bathe  their  sick,  and  when  all  remedies  are  ex- 
hausted, and  no  hope  remains,  they  expose  them  before 
their  cabins  to  the  rising  sun,  imploring  and  conjuring 
that  luminary  to  cure  them.  In  all  diseases  the  meth- 
od of  treatment  (or  succession  of  remedies)  is  the  same. 
They  begin  by  sucking  and  making  incisions,  after 
which  they  resort  to  bathing,  etc.,  until  recovery  or 
death  occurs.  In  all  these  proceedings  they  preserve 
well  their  presumption,  which  they  conceal  from  these 
poor  people  under  an  affected  modesty  and  feigned 
abstinence.  It  is  true,  however,  that  they  go  through 
a  rough  and  long  apprenticeship  under  the  old  jaoiinas, 
who  are  the  chiefs  of  the  sect,  and  this  doubtless  en- 
hances the  confidence  which  the  Floridians  repose  in 
these  priests  and  physicians.  These  jaoiinas  are  clad 
in  long  robes  made  of  various  skins  cut  into. unequal 
bands.  These  robes  are  fastened  by  girdles  of  deer- 
skin, to  wdiick  they  attach  their  pouches  filled  with 
herbs.  Over  the  robe  they  wear,  after  the  fashion  of 
a  cloak,  the  hide  of  some  wild  animal.  Their  feet  and 
arms  are  uncovered,  and  they  have  on  their  heads  a 
skin  cap  terminating  in  a  point." 

Of  the  Virginia  conjurers,  Hariot  *  says,  they  use 
strange  gestures  and  are  often  contrary  to  Nature  in 
\/  their  enchantments.  They  be  "verye  familiar  with 
*  deuils,  of  whom  they  enquier  what  their  enemys  doe, 
or  other  suche  thinges.  They  shaue  all  their  heads 
sauinge  their  creste,  which  they  weare  as  other  doe, 
and  fasten  a  small  black  bircle  aboue  one  of  their  ears 
as  a  badge  of  their  office.  They  weare  nothinge  but 
a  skinne,  which  hangeth  downe  from  their  gyrclle  and 
couereth  their  priuityes.     They  weare  a  bagg  by  their 

]  "  A  Briefe  and  True  Report  of  the  New-fouud-land  of  Virginia,"  etc.     Franco- 
forti  ad  Mcenuro.     De  Bry.     Anno  1590,  plate  xi. 


PHYSICIANS    AND    CONJUEEES.  31 

side.  The  Inhabitants  giue  great  credit  vnto  their 
speeche,  which  oftentimes  they  finde  to  bee  true." 

The  Natchez  jugglers  not  only  pretended  to  cure 
the  sick,  but  also  professed  to  procure  rain  and  sea- 
sons favorable  for  the  fruits  of  the  earth.  Their  in- 
cantations were  often  directed  to  the  dispersion  of 
clouds  and  the  expulsion  of  evil  spirits  from  the  bod- 
ies of  the  afflicted.  They  were  a  lazy  set  of  fellows, 
imposing  upon  the  credulity  of  their  countrymen,  and 
receiving  rich  rewards  when  their  patients  recovered.1 
The  Alibamons  reposed  great  confidence  in  their  doc- 
tors, and  regarded  the  ravings  of  these  quacks  and 
cunning  impostors  as  the  utterances  of  a  divine  lan- 
guage.2 

Among  the  Carolina  tribes  the  priests  were  the 
>C  conjurers  and  doctors  of  the  nation.3  The  theory  was 
that  all  distempers  were  caused  by  evil  spirits ;  conse- 
quently, none  of  their  physicians  atteinjyted  to  effect  a 
cure  until  he  had  conversed  with  the  good  spirit,  and 
ascertained  whether  his  aid  could  be  secured  in  the 
effort  to  exorcise  the  adverse  demon. 

"  As  soon  as  the  Doctor  comes  into  the  Cabin,"  says 
Surveyor-General  Lawson,4  "  the  sick  Person  is  sat  on 
a  Mat  or  Skin,  stark-naked,  lying  on  his  Back,  and  all 
uncovered,  except  some  small  Trifle  that  covers  their 
Nakedness  when  ripe,  otherwise  in  very  young  Chil- 
dren, there  is  nothino;  about  them.  In  this  Manner  the 
Patient  lies,  when  the  Conjurer  appears ;  and  the  King 
of  that  Nation  comes  to  attend  him  with  a  Rattle  made 

1  See  Charlevoix's  "Voyage  to  North  America,"  etc.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  203.     Dublin, 
1766. 

2  "Travels  through  Louisiana,  by  Captain  Bossu,"  vol.  i.,  p.  264.     London, 
1771. 

3  Lawson's  "  History  of  Carolina,*'  p.  211.     London,  171 1. 

4  Idem,  p.  214. 


61  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

of  a  Gourd  with  Pease  in  it.  This  the  King  delivers 
into  the  Doctor's  Hand,  whilst  another  brings  a  Bowl 
of  Water,  and  sets  it  down.  Then  the  Doctor  begins, 
and  utters  some  few  Words  very  softly  ;  afterwards  he 
smells  of  the  Patient's  Navel  and  Belly,  and  sometimes 
scarifies  him  a  little  with  a  Flint,  or  an  Instrument 
made  of  Rattle-Snake's  teeth  for  that  Purpose ;  then 
he  sucks  the  Patient,  and  gets  out  a  Mouthful  of  Blood 
and  Serum ,  but  Serum  chiefly  ;  which,  perhaps,  maybe 
a  better  Method  in  many  Cases,  than  to  take  away 
great  Quantities  of  Blood,  as  is  commonly  practised ; 
which  he  spits  in  the  Bowl  of  Water.  Then  he 
begins  to  mutter  and  talk  apace,  and,  at  last,  to  cut 
Capers  and  clap  his  Hands  on  his  Breech  and  Sides,  till 
he  gets  into  a  Sweat,  so  that  a  Strauger  would  think  he 
was  running  mad ;  now  and  then  sucking  the  Patient, 
and  so,  at  times,  keeps  sucking,  till  he  has  got  a  great 
Quantity  of  very  ill-coloured  Matter  out  of  the  Belly, 
Arms,  Breast,  Forehead,  Temples,  Neck,  and  most  Parts, 
still  continuing  his  Grimaces  and  antick  Postures,  which 
are  not  to  be  matched  in  Bedlam .  At  last  you  will  see 
the  Doctor  all  over  of  a  dropping  Sweat,  and  scarce  able 
to  utter  one  Word,  having  quite  spent  himself;  then  he 
will  cease  for  a  while,  and  so  begin  again  till  he  comes 
in  the  same  pitch  of  Raving  and  seeming  Madness  as 
before.  (All  this  time  the  sick  Body  never  so  niuck- 
as  moves,  although,  doubtless,  the  Lancing  and  Sucking 
must  be  a  great  Punishment  to  them ;  but  they  cer- 
tainly are  the  patientest  and  most  steady  People 
under  any  Burden  that  I  ever  saw  in  my  Lite.)  At 
last  the  Conjurer  makes  an  end,  and  tells  the  Patient's 
Friends  whether  the  Person  will  live  or  die  ;  and  then 
one  that  waits  at  this  Ceremony  takes  the  Blood  away 
(which  remains  in  a  Lump  in  the  middle  of  the  Water), 


MEDICINE-MEN.  33 

and  buries  it  in  the  Ground,  in  a  Place  unknown  to 
any  one  but  lie  that  inters  it."  '  "  In  Medicine,  or  the 
Nature  of  Swvphs"  says  Thomas  Ash,2  "  some  have  an 
exquisite  knowledge ;  and  in  the  Cure  of  Scorhutic, 
Venereal,  and  Malignant  Distempers,  are  admirable. 
In  all  External  Diseases  they  suck  the  Part  affected 
with  many  Incantations,  Philtres,  and  Charms." 

These  medicine-men  also  conjured  for  stolen  goods, 
understood  the  art  of  coloring  the  human  hair,  cured 
lingering  distempers  by  wrapping  a  snake  around  the 
body  of  the  afflicted,  treated  affections  of  the  spleen 
and  of  the  stomach  by  hot  applications,  relieved  the 
toothache,  administered  ample  purges  through  large 
draughts  of  the  Yaupon,  comprehended  the  medicinal 
virtues  of  the  sassafras  and  many  native  j)lants,  ap- 
proved of  the  salutary  influences  of  profuse  sweat- 
ing, rubbed  with  the  fat  of  animals  to  render  the 
limbs  pliable,  and,  when  wearied,  to  relieve  pains  in 
the  joints,  administered  the  juice  of  the  tulip-tree  as  a 
remedy  for  pox,  and  suggested  various  specifics  for  dis- 
eases incident  to  climate  and  the  exposed  manner  of 
life.3 

The  office  of  physician  among  these  primitive  peo- 
ples, accompanied  as  it  was  with  authority,  notoriety, 
and  emolument,  was  not  exempt  from  danger.  Fail- 
ure to  effect  a  cure,  in  some  instances,  involved  as  a 
direct  consequence  the  death  of  the  practitioner.  The 
suggestion  of  such  a  penalty  at  this  time,  for  profes- 
sional ignorance  or  malpractice,  would  most  essentially 
diminish  the  applications  for  admission  to  the  degree 

1  Compare  Brickell's  "  Natural  History  of  North  Carolina,"  p.  372.     Dublin, 
1737. 

2  "  Carolina,"  etc.,  p.  35.     London,  1682. 

3  See  Lawpon's  "  Carolina,"  p.  215,  et  scq.     London,  1714 


34  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

of  M.  D.,  emphatically  thin  the  ranks  of  the  medical 
fraternity,  and  entirely  extirpate  the  race  of  impudent 
quacks  infesting  the  country  through  all  its  bor- 
ders. 

In  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Bartram,1  the  Southern  In- 
dians, in  the  treatment  of  diseases,  depended  more 
X  upon  regimen  and  abstinence  than  they  did  upon  medi- 
cines. 

The  Cherokees  used  the  Lobelia  syphilitica,  and 
jC endeavored  to  conceal  from  the  whites  all  knowledge 
both  of  its  virtues  and  of  the  localities  in  which  it  grew. 
A  decoction  of  the  Bignonia  crucigera  and  of  the  roots 
of  the  china  brier  and  the  sassafras  was  freely  employed 
for  the  purification  of  the  blood.  The  caustic  and 
detergent  properties  of  the  roots  of  the  white  nettle 
(Jatropha  urens)  were  utilized  in  cleansing  old  ulcers 
and  consuming  proud  flesh,  while  the  dissolvent  and 
diuretant  powers  of  the  root  of  the  Convolvulus  pandu- 
ratus  were  highly  esteemed  as  a  remedy  in  nephritic 
complaints.  The  emollient  and  discutient  power  of 
the  swamp-lily  (Saururus  cernuus)  and  the  virtues  of 
the  hypo  or  may-apple  {Podophyllum  peltatuiri)  were 
both  communicated  to  the  Europeans  by  the  Indians. 

The  roots  of  the  Panax  ginseng  and  JYorida,  or 
white-root,  were  held  in  the  highest  esteem  among  the 
Cherokees  and  Creeks.  The  virtues  of  the  former  are 
well  known,  and  the  friendly  carminative  qualities  of 
the  latter  were  constantly  invoked  for  relieving  all  dis- 
orders of  the  stomach  and  intestines.  The  patient 
chewed  the  root  and  swallowed  the  juice,  or  smoked  it, 
when  dry,  with  tobacco.  Even  the  smell  of  the  root 
exerted  a  beneficial  effect.  The  Lower  Creeks,  in  whose 

1  "  Observations  on  the  Creek  and  Cherokee  Indians."     Transactions  of  the 
American  Ethnological  Society,  vol.  iii.,  part  1,  p.  45,      e    .     New  York,  1853. 


ANCIENT   TOWNS    OF    FLOKIDA.  35 

country  it  did  not  grow,  gladly  exchanged  two  or  three 
buckskins  for  a  single  root  of  it.1 

Of  the  ancient  towns  of  Florida,  De  Bry  has  given 
us  several  representations.3  They  are  all  small,  circular 
in  outline,  and  defended  by  stockades.  The  dwellings 
of  chiefs,  council-houses,  public  buildings,  granaries, 
and  temples,  we  have  considered  elsewhere,  and  it  only 
remains  for  us,  in  this  connection,  to  notice  the  charac- 
ter of  the  cabins  occupied  by  the  common  people. 
These  were  confined,  inconvenient,  and  ephemeral  in 
their  structure.  Describing  the  dwellings  of  Toalli, 
the  Knight  of  Elvas  remarks  that  they  were  roofed 
with  cane  after  the  fashion  of  tile.  They  were  kept 
very  clean,  and  their  sides,  made  of  clay,  looked  like 
tapia.  Throughout  the  cold  country,  he  continues, 
every  Indian  has  a  winter  house,  plastered  inside  and 
out,  with  a  very  small  door,  which  is  closed  at  dark. 
Within,  a  fire  is  kindled  which  heats  the  building  like 
an  oven  and  renders  clothing  during  the  night-time  en- 
tirely unnecessary.  The  summer-house  was  more  open, 
and  near  it  was  erected  a  small  kitchen  for  baking 
bread.  Maize  was  kept  in  a  house  with  wooden  sides, 
raised  aloft  on  four  posts,  with  a  cane  floor.  The 
houses  of  the  principal  men  or  chiefs  were  larger  than 
those  of  the  subjects,  and,  in  front,  had  deep  balconies 
furnished  with  cane  seats.  There  were  also  large  bar- 
bacoas  filled  with  maize,  deer-skins,  and  the  blankets 
of  the  country — the  tribute  of  the  common  people  to 
their  rulers.3     These  private  residences  were  generally 

1  Consult  also  Adair's  "  History  of  theXorth  American  Indians,"  p.  172,  ct  seq. 
London,  1115. 

2  "  Brevis   Xarratio,''   etc.,  plates    xxx.,    xxxi..   xxxiii.,    xl.     Francoforti    ad 
Moenum,  anno  1591. 

3  See  "  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto,"  translated  by  Buck 
iugham  Smith,  p.  52.     New  York,  1866. 


36  ANTIQUITIES    OF    THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

circular  in  form,  their  sides  made  of  upright  poles,  the 
interstices  filled  with  clay,  and  their  tops  thatched  with 
dry  grass,  palmetto-leaves,  or  cane.  During  the  sum- 
mer months  but  little  covering  was  needed,  and  the 
light,  open  summer-houses  were  frequently  roofed  sim- 
ply with  branches  of  trees.  At  a  later  period  the  Mus- 
cogulgees  built  houses  much  more  substantial  in  their 
character,  plastering  the  walls  carefully  with  red  or 
white  clay,  and  ornamenting  them  with  various  draw- 
ings of  animals,  plants,  trees,  birds,  and  men.1 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  the 
houses  of  the  Virginia  Indians  were  made  of  poles 
fastened  at  the  top  and  covered  either  with  bark  or 
with  rush  mats.  They  were  from  twelve  to  twenty- 
four  yards  in  length,  and  about  half  as  broad.  Their 
towns  consisted  of  a  collection  of  from  ten  to  thirty 
houses,  and  were  sometimes  open,  and,  in  other  in- 
stances, were  protected  by  stockades  not  unlike  those 
in  use  among  the  Florida  tribes.  An  example  of  a  for- 
tified village  is  presented  in  plate  xix.  of  the  "  Ad- 
miranda  Narratio."  The  town  of  Secota  (plate  xx.), 
on  the  contrary,  is  entirely  unprotected.  In  the  vicin- 
ity of  this  village  are  seen  fields  of  maize  and  tobacco. 
The  relative  positions  of  the  places  of  prayer,  of  feast- 
ing, of  dancing,  of  idol-worship,  of  the  spot  where 
the  sacred  fire  is  kept  burning,  of  the  large  building 
wherein  are  entombed  their  kings,  and  the  locality 
whence  they  derived  their  supply  of  water,  are  all 
delineated.  When  a  village  was  situated  at  a  remove 
from  a  stream,  spring,  or  lake,  the  earliest  attention 
was  paid  to  digging  an  artificial  pond  from  which  a 
liberal  supply  of  water  could  at  all  times  be  obtained. 

1  Bartram's  "  Observations  on  the  Creek  and  Cherokee  Indians."    Transactions 
of  the  American  Ethnological  Society,  vol,  Hi.,  part  1,  p.  18. 


WIGWAMS   OF   THE   CAROLINA    INDIANS.  37 

Ribault  thus  describes  a  native  village  on  the  Flor- 
ida coast :  "  Their  houses  be  made  of  wood  fitly  and 
close ;  set  upright  and  covered  with  reeds,  the  most 
part  of  them  after  the  fashion  of  a  pavilion.  But 
there  was  one  house  among  the  rest  very  long  and 
broad,  with  settles  about  made  of  reeds,  trimly  couched 
together,  which  serve  them  both  for  beds  and  seats ; 
they  be  of  height  two  foot  from  the  ground,  set  upon 
great  round  pillars  painted  with  red,  yellow,  and  blue, 
well  and  trimly  polished."  *" 

Perhaps  the  most  minute  and  satisfactory  descrip- 
tion of  the  dwellings  of  the  Southern  Indians  is  that 
,V  presented  by  Mr.  Lawson.2  Referring  more  particu- 
larly to  the  Carolina  tribes,  he  writes :  u  These  Savages 
live  in  Wigwams  or  Cabins  built  of  Bark,  which  are 
made  round  like  an  Oven,  to  prevent  any  Damage  by 
hard  Gales  of  Wind.  They  make  the  Fire  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  House,  and  have  a  Hole  at  the  Top  of  the 
Roof  right  above  the  Fire,  to  let  out  the  Smoke.  These 
Dwellings  are  as  hot  as  Stoves,  where  the  Indians 
sleep  and  sweat  all  Night.  The  Floors  thereof  are 
never  paved  nor  swept,  so  that  they  have  always  a 
loose  Earth  on  them.  They  are  often  troubled  with  a 
multitude  of  Fleas,  especially  near  the  Places  where 
they  dress  their  Deer-Skins,  because  that  Hair  harbors 
them ;  yet  I  never  felt  any  ill,  unsavory  Smell  in  their 
Cabins,  whereas,  should  we  live  in  our  Houses,  as  they 
do,  we  should  be  poison' d  with  our  own  Nastiness ; 
which  confirms  these  Indians  to  be,  as  they  really  are, 
some  of  the  sweetest  People  in  the  World. 

"  The  Bark  they  make  their  Cabins  withal,  is  gen- 
erally Cypress,  or  red  or  white  Cedar ;  and  sometimes, 

1  "  The  Whole  and  True  Discoverye  of  Terra  Florida,"  etc.  Prynted  at  London, 
by  Rowland  Hall,  for  Thomas  Hackett,  1563. 

*  "History  of  Carolina,"  etc.,  p.  176.     London,  1714. 


38  ANTIQUITIES    OF    THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

when  they  are  a  great  way  from  any  of  these  Woods, 
they  make  nse  of  Pine-Bark,  which  is  the  worser  sort. 
In  building  these  Fabricks  they  get  very  long  Poles  of 
Pine,  Cedar,  Hiccory,  or  any  Wood  that  will  bend ; 
these  are  the  Thickness  of  the  Small  of  a  Man's  Leg 
at  the  thickest  end,  which  they  generally  strip  of  the 
Bark,  and  warm  them  well  in  the  Fire,  which  makes 
them  tough  and  fit  to  bend  ;  afterwards  they  stick  the 
thickest  ends  of  them  in  the  Ground,  about  two  Yards 
asunder  in  a  Circular  Form,  the  Distance  they  design 
the  Cabin  to  be  (which  is  not  always  round,  but  some- 
times oval),  then  they  bend  the  Tops  and  bring  them 
together,  and  bind  their  ends  with  Bark  of  Trees,  that 
is  proper  for  that  use,  as  Elm  is,  or  sometimes  the 
Moss  that  grows  on  Trees,  and  is  a  Yard  or  two  long, 
and  never  rots ;  then  they  brace  them  with  other  Poles 
to  make  them  strong ;  afterwards  cover  them  all  over 
with  Bark,  so  that  they  are  very^warm  and  tight,  and 
will  keep  firm  against  all  the  Weathers  that  blow. 
They  have  other  sorts  of  Cabins  without  Windows, 
which  are  for  their  Granaries,  Skins,  and  Merchandizes ; 
and  others  that  are  covered  over  head ;  the  rest,  left 
open  for  the  Air.  These  have  Keed-Hurdles  like  Ta- 
bles to  lie  and  sit  on,  in  Summer,  and  serve  for  pleas- 
ant Banqueting-Houses  in  the  hot  Season  of  the  Year. 
The  Cabins  they  dwell  in  have  Benches  all  round,  ex- 
cept where  the  Door  stands  ;  on  these  they  lay  Beasts- 
Skins  and  Mats  .made  of  Bushes,  whereon  they  sleep 
and  loll.  In  one  of  these  several  Families  commonly 
live,  though  all  related  to  one  another." ' 

1  Compare  Adair's  "  History  of  the  American  Indians,"-  p.  417.  London, 
1755;  Bartram's  "  Travels,"  pp.  189,365,386,  et  alitcr.  London,  1792.  Ro- 
maic's "  Concise  Natural  History  of  East  and  West  Florida,"  pp.  67,68.  New 
York,  1775.   Smith's  ':  History  of  Virginia,"  R'chmond  reprint,  1819,  vol.  i.,  p.  130. 


CABINS    OF   THE    GEOEGIA    INDIANS.  89 

Some  fifty  years  subsequent  to  the  time  when  this 
description  was  furnished  by  Mr.  Lawson,  De  Brahm 
thus  perpetuated  his  observations  respecting  the  char- 
acter of  the  houses  used  by  the  Indians  on  the  coast 
of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia :  "  The  Indian  built 
their  houses  of  posts,  on  which  they  lash  in  and.  out- 
side canes,  and  plaster  them  over  with  a  white  clay 
mixed  with  small  pieces  of  talk,  which,  in  a  sun  shiny 
day  gives  to  these  houses,  or  rather  cottages,  a  splendor 
of  unpolished  silver :  they  are  about  twelve  foot  wide, 
and  twenty  or  more  foot  long,  covered  with  a  clap- 
board roof,  have  no  windows,  but  two  doors  on  the 
opposite  sides,  sometimes  only  one  door  ;  the  fire  place 
is  at  one  end  of  the  house,  with  two  bed  states  on  both 
sides  of  the "  fire ;  the  bed  states  are  made  of  canes, 
raised  from  the  ground  about  two  foot,  and  covered 
with  bear's  skins ;  their  corn  houses  are  buit  in  the 
same  manner,  but  raised  upon  four  posts,  four  and  five 
foot  high  from  the  ground ;  its  floor  is  made  of  round 
poles  on  which  the  corn  worms  cannot  lodge,  but  fall 
through,  and  thus  the  Indians  preserve  their  corn 
from  being  distroyed  by  the  weevils  a  whole  year. 
Two  or  more  famelies  joine  together  in  building  a  hot- 
house about  thirty  foot  in  diameter,  and  fifteen  foot 
high,  in  a  form  of  a  cone,  with  poles  and  tatched, 
without  any  air  hole,  excej)t  a  small  door  about  three 
foot  high  and  eighteen  inches  wide ;  in  the  center  of 
the  hot-house  they  burn  fire  of  well  seasoned  dry 
wood;  round  the  inside  are  bedstades  fixed  to  the 
studs  which  support  the  middle  of  each  post ;  in  these 
houses  they  resort  with  their  children  in  the  winter 
nights.  Upon  the  same  plan  of  these  hot-honses  (only 
a  greater  diameter  and  perpendicul)  their  town  houses 
are  built,  in  which  the  head  men  assemble  to  consult 


40  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIAN'S. 

in  war,  peace,  or  other  concerns ;  and  every  evening 
during  summer  all  families  of  the  town  meet  to  dance 
and  divert  themselves."  ! 

In  the  vicinity  of  the  Georgia  villages,  which  were 
usually  located  upon  the  banks  of  streams  and  in  rich 
valleys,  the  followers  of  De  Soto  often  found  large 
fields  of  maize,  and  in  some  instances  artificial  lakes 
used  as  fish-preserves. 

With  reference  to  the  tenure  of  land  and  prop- 
erty, it  may  "be  remarked,  generally,  that  every  tribe 
had  its  boundary-lines,  and  each  nation  or  confederacy 
its  own  recognized  territorial  limits.  In  the  public 
domain,  with  its  rivers,  and  lakes,  and  forests,  each 
Indian  claimed  a  right  of  property  for  the  purposes 
of  travel,  hunting,  and  fishing.  All  that  *a  man  earned 
or  fashioned  by  his  individual  labor  and  industry  be- 
longed to  himself,  and  he  could  dispose  of  it  accord- 
ing to  the  customs  and  usages  of  his  people.  It  was 
his  privilege  to  clear,  settle,  and  plant  as  much  land 
as  he  chose,  within  the  boundaries  of  his  tribe. 

In  villages  the   right  of   personal   property  was 

scrupulously  observed,  and  theft  was  an  uncommon 

^occurrence.     Every  town  or  community,  for  the  sake 

of  convenience,  assigned  a  parcel  of  land  in  its  vicinity 

for  agricultural  purposes. 

This  was  called  the  "  town  plantation,2  where 
every  family  or  citizen  had  his  parcel,  or  lot,  according 
to  desire,  or  convenience,  or  the  largeness  of  his 
family."  These  shares  were  bounded  by  a  strip  of 
grass,  by  poles,  or  some  artificial  marks.     In  ancient 

1  "  Documents  connected  with  the  History  of  South  Carolina,  edited  by  Plow- 
den  Charles  Jennett  Weston,"  p.  221.     London,  1856. 

2  Bartram's  "  Observations  on   the  Creek   and  Cherokee  Indians."    Transac- 
tions of  the  American  Ethnological  Society,  vol.  ill.,  part  1,  p.  39. 


AGEICULTUEAL    LAB0ES.  41 

times,  in  these  corn-fields  there  were  no  fences.  Each 
person,  however,  recognized  the  limits  of  his  own  little 
farm,  and  refrained  from  interfering:  with  his  neio-h- 
bors'  rights.1  The  entire  plantation,  therefore,  was 
simj)ly  a  collection  of  lots,  adjacent  the  one  to  the 
other,  and  all  embraced  in  one  general  enclosure. 
When  the  proper  season  for  planting  arrived,  all  the 
inhabitants,  as  one  family,  devoted  their  attention  to 
the  preparation  of  the  ground  and  the  sowing  of  the 
seed.  In  like  manner  the  plants,  at  proper  times, 
^were,  by  common  consent,  cultivated.  These  agricul- 
tural labors  were  superintended  by  an  overseer  elected 
or  designated  annually  for  that  purpose.  During  the 
periods  of  special  labor  his  province  it  was  to  awaken 
the  inhabitants  of  the  town  at  daybreak  with  a  singu- 
larly loud  cry,  assemble  them  with  their  agricultural 
implements  in  the  public  square,  and,  by  sunrise,  lead 
them  into  the  fields  where  the  work  was  commenced, 
and  under  his  supervision  prosecuted  until  evening. 
The  women  did  not  march  out  with  the  men,  but  fol- 
lowed in  detached  parties  bearing  the  provisions  of 
the  day.  "  When  the  fruits  of  their  labors  are  ripe 
.  and  in  fit  order  to  gather  in,"  says  Mr.  Bartram,  "  they 
\  all,  on  the  same  day,  repair  to  the  plantation ;  each 
gathers  the  produce  of  his  own  proper  lot,  brings  it  to 
town,  and  deposits  it  in  his  own  crib,  allotting  a  cer- 
tain portion  for  the  public  granary,  which  is  called  the 
king's  crib,  because  its  contents  are  at  his  disposal, 
though  not  his  private  property,  but  considered  as  the 
tribute  or  free  contribution  of  the  citizens  of  the  state, 
at  the  disposal  of  the  king. 

"  The  design  of  the  common  granary  is  for  the  wisest 
and  best  of  purposes  with  respect  to  their  people,  i.  e., 

1  "Lawson's  Carolina,"  p.  179.    London,  1714. 


42  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE   SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

a  store  or  resource  to  repair  to  in  cases  of  necessity. 
Thus,  when  a  family's  private  stores  fall  short,  in 
cases  of  accident  or  otherwise,  they  are  entitled  to  as- 
sistance and  supply  from  the  public  granary,  by  ap- 
plying to  the  king.  It  also  serves  to  aid  other  towns 
which  may  be  in  want,  and  affords  provisions  for  their 
armies,  for  travellers,  sojourners,  etc.,  etc.  Thus  the 
mico  becomes  the  provider  oy  father  of  his  people." 

Besides  the  general  plantation,  each  inhabitant  of 
the  village  enclosed  a  garden-spot  adjoining  his  cabin, 
in  which  he  cultivated  corn  and  vegetables,  upon 
which  he  subsisted  before  the  general  harvest  was 
gathered. 

Widows  with  large  families  were  always  assisted 
in  planting,  working,  and  gathering  their  crops.1 

Throughout  the  Creek  Confederacy  there  was  con- 
tinual and  friendly  intercourse  between  the  families 
constituting  the  resjDective  tribes.  To  their  doors 
there  were  no  bolts,  and  universal  hospitality  and 
good  feeling  prevailed.  Ever  ready  to  assist  each 
other,  and  entertaining  an  abiding  friendship,  the  one 
for  the  other,  the  members  of  the  various  tribes  seemed 
to  Mr.  Bartram  to  constitute  one  great  family,  holding 
all  their  possessions  in  common.  Theft  was  almost 
unknown. 

The  animal  food  of  the  Southern  Indians,  at  the 
dawn  of  the  historic  period,  comprised  all  the  wild 
animals  native  to  the  region,  among  which  may  be 
specially  enumerated  buffaloes,  deer,  bears,  beavers, 
panthers,  raccoons,  opossums,  wild-cats,  rabbits2  and 

1  Lawson's  "  History  of  Carolina,"  p.  179.     London,  1714. 

2  These  animals  were  captured  sometimes  by  means  of  snares.  "  Narratives 
of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto;"  Buckingham  Smith's  Translation,  p.  132. 
New  York,  1866. 


ANIMAL   FOOD.  43 

squirrels.  These  were  generally  killed  with  the  Low 
and  arrow.  Certain  seasons  of  the  year  were  set  apart 
for  hunting,  during  which  large  quantities  of  meat 
were  obtained,  cured,  and  housed  for  future  consump- 
tion. Fawns  in  the  womb  were  esteemed  a  great  deli- 
cacy. All  sorts  of  fishes,  turtles,  terrapins,  oysters, 
clams,  fresh-water  mussels,  conchs,  alligators,  and  even 
some  varieties  of  snakes,  were  eaten,  and  much  time 
was  consumed  in  the  capture  of  fishes  by  means  of  the 
bow  and  arrow,  spears,  nets,  baskets,  and  wears.  The 
bone  hook,  and  line  made  of  deer-thong,  or  twisted 
fibre,  were  used  only  to  a  limited  extent.  Captain 
\-  John  Smith '  asserts  that  the  Virginia  Indian  women 
spun  betwixt  their  hands  and  thighs  the  barks  of  trees, 
a  kind  of  grass,  and  deer  sinews,  out  of  which  they  read- 
ily made  a  very  even  thread.  Out  of  this  thread  they 
made  garments,  nets,  and  fishing-lines.  "Their  fish- 
•  hooks,"  he  continues,  "  are  either  a  bone  grated  as  they 
noch  their  arrowes,  in  the  forme  of  a  crooked  pinne, 
or  of  the  splinter  of  a  bone  tyed  to  the  clift  of  a  little 
sticke,  and  with  the  end  of  the  line  they  tie  on  the 
bate."  Young  wasps,  white  in  the  comb,  were  re- 
jfgarded  as  a  dainty  morsel.2  Wild-turkeys,  water- 
fowl, and  various  birds,  were  eagerly  sought  after  and 
eaten.  In  a  word,  there  was  but  little  animal  life  in 
the  forests  or  in  the  waters  of  the  country  which  the 
Southern  Indian  excluded  from  his  food-list.      Even 

1  "History  of  Virginia,"  Richmond  reprint,  1819,  vol.  i.,  p.  133. 

8  Lawson's  " History  of  Carolina,"  p.  178.  London,  1714.  "Brevis  Xar- 
ratio,"  plates  xxiv.,  xxv.,  xxvi.  Francoforti  ad  Moeuum,  1591.  "  Admiranda 
Narratio,"  plates  xiii.,  xiv.  Francoforti  ad  Moenum,  1590.  Ash's  "  Caro- 
lina," p.  36.  London,  1682.  Bartram's  "  Observations  on  the  Creek  and  Chero- 
kee Indians."  Transactions  of  the  American  Ethnological  Society,  vol.  iii., 
part  i.,  p.  47.  Adair's  "  History  of  North  American  Indians,"  p.  402,  el  seq. 
London,  1775.  Timberlake's  "  Memoirs,"  p.  45.  London,  1765.  Smith's 
"  History  of  Virginia,"  Richmond  reprint,  1819,  vol.  i.,  p.  133. 


44  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

upon  dogs  did  they  sometimes  subsist.  The  skins 
of  the  buffalo,  deer,  and  other  animals,  were  dressed 
and  used  as  clothing. 

Among  the  vegetables  upon  which  these  primitive 
peoples  chiefly  relied  for  sustenance,  may  be  mentioned 
Indian  corn  (maize  or  zea),  wild-potatoes,  ground-nuts, 
acorns,  walnuts,  hickory -nuts,  chestnuts,  pumpkins, 
melons,  gourds,  beans,  pulse  of  various  sorts,  persim- 
mons, peaches,  plums,  grapes,  and  mulberries.  The 
tuberous  roots  of  the  smilax  (#.  pseudocliina)  were 
dug  up,  and,  while  still  fresh  and  full  of  juice,  were 
chopped  up  and  macerated  well  in  wooden  mortars. 
When  thoroughly  beaten,  this  pulpy  mass  was  put 
in  eartheu  vessels  containing  clean  water.  Here  it 
was  stirred  with  wooden  paddles  or  with  the  hands. 
Tbe  lighter  particles,  floating  upon  the  top,  were 
poured  off.  A  farinaceous  matter  was  left  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  vessel ;  which,  when  taken  out  and  dried, 
remained  an  impalpable  powder  or  farina  of  a  reddish 
color.  Boiled  in  water,  this  powder  formed  a  beauti- 
ful jelly,  Avhich,  when  sweetened,  was  both  agreeable 
and  nourishing.  In  combination  with  corn-flour  and 
when  fried  in  fresh  bear's-grease  it  made  excellent 
fritters.1 

Tobacco  also  was  regularly  and  extensively  culti- 
vated. The  Southern  Indians,  especially  those  resident 
,  upon  the  rich  valleys  of  the  interior,  devoted  no  little 
time  and  attention  to  agriculture.  With  them  maize 
was  emphatically  the  staff  of  life.  Upon  its  nutritious 
properties  they  relied  both  during  its  milky  state  and 
when  dry.  In  the  latter  condition  it  was  often  parched, 
pounded,  moistened  with  water,  and  thus  eaten.     This 

1  Bartram's  "  Observations  on  the  Creek  and  Cherokee  Indians."    Transactions 
I  of  the  American  Ethnological  Society,  vol.  iii.,  part  1,  p.  49.     New  York,  1853. 


USE    OF    CORN,    NUTS,    AND    SALT.  45 

was  tlie  case  wLen  the  party  was  on  the  march  or  en- 
gaged in  hunting.  Generally  beaten  in  a  mortar,  it 
was  either  boiled  for  hominy,  or,  mixed  with  hickory- 
nut-milk,  walnut-oil,  or  fresh  bear's-fat,  was  baked  into 
bread  or  fried  as  cakes.  In  a  subsequent  chapter  upon 
agriculture  we  will  note  more  carefully  the  facts  con- 
nected with  the  cultivation,  preservation,  and  use  of 
the  grain  which  subserved  such  important  purpose  in 
the  domestic  economy  of  these  peoj^les. 

Walnuts  and  hickory-nuts  were  diligently  collected, 
cracked,  and  boiled  in  vessels,  when  the  oil  which  rose 
to  the  surface  was  skimmed  off  and  carefully  preserved 
in  covered  earthen  jars.  This  oil  was  highly  esteemed 
in  the  preparation  of  their  corn-cakes.  Of  the  seeds  of 
the  sunflower,  when  pounded,  they  also  made  bread. 
The  amexias  was  freely  eaten,  and  ripe  persimmons 
were  pressed  into  cakes  and  stored  away  for  consump- 
tion during  the  winter  months.  Grapes  were  dried  in 
the  sun  and  collected  in  the  public  granaries  and 
private  store-houses.     Wild-honey  was  also  gathered.1 

Salt  was  manufactured  by  the  natives.  The  Knight 
of  Elvas 2  informs  us  that  the  natural  salt  and  the  sand 
with  which  it  was  intermixed  were  thrown  into  bas- 
kets made  for  the  purpose.  These  were  large  at  the 
mouth  and  small  at  the  bottom,  or,  in  other  words,  fun- 
nel-shaped. Beneath  them — suspended  in  the  air  on 
a  ridge-pole — vessels  were  placed.  Water  was  then 
poured  upon  the  admixture  of  sand  and  salt.     The 

1  Consult  "  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  nernando  de  Soto,"  etc.,  translated  by 
Buckingham  Smith,  pp.38,  55,  69,  11,  200-202.  New  York,  1866.  "  A  Briefe 
and  True  Report  of  the  New-found  Land  of  Virginia,"  by  Thomas  Hariot,  pp. 
13-16.  Francoforti  ad  Mcenum,  1590.  Bossu's  "Travels  through  Louisiana," 
vol.  i.,  p.  22L  Lawson's  "History  of  Carolina,"  p.  207.  London,  1714.  "Brevis 
Xarratio,"  plates  xxi.,  xxii.,  xxiii. 

2  "Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  dc  Soto,"  etc.,  p.  124.  New  York, 
1866. 


46  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

drippings  were  strained  and  boiled  on  the  fire  until  all 
the  water  was  evaporated,  and  the  salt  left  in  the  bot- 
tom of  the  pots. 

Captain  Romans  asserts  that  the  Indians  never  ate 
salt  meats  or  boiled  their  food  with  salt.  Nevertheless 
they  had  salt  in  abundance.  When  deprived  of  it  for 
a  long  time,  he  says  an  Indian  "  will  frequently  eat  a 
pound  of  salt  without  any  thing  else."  *  To  the  saline 
springs  of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  the  natives  con- 
stantly resorted  from  time  immemorial,  and  in  large 
numbers,  for  the  manufacture  of  this  necessary  season- 
ing for  food.  They  also  obtained  rock-salt  from  nat- 
ural deposits  near  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  River. 

Of  the  mechanical  labors  of  the  aborigines — aside 
from  the  construction  of  their  tumuli,  fortifications, 
fish-preserves,  temples,  public  and  private  houses,  and 
places  for  feasting,  dancing,  and  religious  exercises 
— it  may  be  remarked  that,  in  the  manufacture  of 
pottery,  from  its  most  careless  expression  in  small 
terra-cotta  pans,  or  gourd-shaped  drinking-cups,  to  its 
more  substantial  development  in  burial-vases,  large, 
ornamented  cooking- vessels  and  well-formed  jars  for 
the  preservation  of  fruits  and  oils,  the  Southern  Indi- 
ans excelled.  They  had  made  further  progress  in  the 
ceramic  art  than  that  attained  by  the  Western  and 
Northern  tribes.  Their  pottery  savored  less  of  the 
archaic  type,  and  in  form  and  ornamentation,  as  well 
as  in  smoothness  and  homogeneousness  of  composition, 
gave  evidence  of  superior  taste  and  skill.  The  shapes 
of  these  fictile  wares  were  also  more  varied.  They 
understood  and  practised  the  art  of  mixing  then  well 
kneaded  clay  with  pounded  shells  and  gravel,  so  as 
to  impart  to  the  material  greater  tenacity  and  dura- 

1  "A  Concise  Natural  H'.story  of  East  and  West  Florida,"  p.  42.     New  York, 
1V85. 


POTTERY,    COPPEE    IMPLEMENTS,    ETC.  47 

bility.  The  ornamentation  of  the  rims,  necks,  and 
sides  of  this  earthenware  was  varied,  and  often  tasteful 
and  ingenious.  The  use  of  the  potter's  wheel  seems 
to  have  been  unknown.  To  the  women  was  chiefly 
committed  the  manufacture  of  this  pottery.  Soap- 
stone,  in  many  localities,  was  the  favorite  material 
from  which,  by  means  of  flint  implements,  were  fash- 
ioned culinary  utensils,  both  great  and  small.  No 
implements  of  iron  and  bronze  existed  at  this  early 
period,  and  copper  was  used  only  to  a  limited  extent. 
In  its  treatment  that  material  was  regarded  rather  in 
the  light  of  a  malleable  stone,  than  as  a  metal.  Its 
employment  was  confined  almost  exclusively  to  the 
manufacture  of  ornamental  axes,  gorgets,  pendants, 
and  spindles,  or  points  for  piercing  pearls.  Procured 
in  a  pure,  native  state — chiefly  from  the  shores  of 
Lake  Superior — it  was,  while  cold,  hammered  out  into 
the  desired  shape.  Heat  was  "never  applied,  and  all 
the  implements  and  ornaments  of  this  metal,  which  we 
have  seen,  show  very  plainly  a  laminated  struutcre. 
Comparatively  few  copper  articles  have  been  found 
within  the  limits  of  Georgia,  and  most  of  these,  as  we 
shall  hereafter  observe,  were  obtained  from  ancient 
graves  in  the  valleys  of  the  Chattahoochee,  the 
Etowah,  and  the  Oostenaula. 

Gold  and  silver,  to  a  limited  extent,  were  employed 
in  the  fabrication  of  ornaments.  Small  masses  of  these 
precious  metals  were  picked  up  by  the  natives  in 
pockets,  or  gathered  in  the  beds  of  streams  flowing 
through  auriferous  regions,  and  perforated  and  worn 
as  pendants.  Gold  beads — evidently  not  European  in 
their  manufacture — rudely  hammered  into  round  and 
oval  shapes,  with  holes  drilled  through  their  centres 
or  upper  portions,  have  been  found  in  the  Etowah 


48  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

Valley,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  large  mounds  on  Colonel 
Tumlin's  plantation.  In  this  connection,  it  is  proper 
that  we  allude  to  the  traces  of  early  mining  in  Chero- 
kee Georgia. 

In  1834,  Colonels  Merriwether  and  Lumsden,  while 
engaged  in  digging  a  canal  in  Duke's-Creek  Valley  for 
the  purpose  of  facilitating  their  mining  operations,  un- 
earthed a  subterranean  village  consisting  of  thirty -four 
small  cabins,  located  in  a  straight  line  extending  up- 
ward of  three  hundred  feet.  They  were  made  of  logs 
hewn  at  the  ends  and  notched  down,  after  the  fashion 
of  the  rude  log-huts  of  the  present  day.  This  hewing 
and  notching  had  evidently  been  done  with  sharp 
metallic  tools,  the  marks  being  such  as  would  have 
been  caused  by  a  chopping  axe.  Above  these  little 
houses — situated  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  yards  from 
the  principal  channel  of  the  creek,  and  embedded  from 
seven  to  nine  feet  beknV  the  surface  of  the  ground — 
trees  were  growing  from  two  to  three  feet  in  diameter.1 
The  estimated  age  of  these  trees  was  somewhat  over 
two  hundred  years.  The  violent  changes  often  caused, 
in  their  narrow  valleys  and  along  their  yielding  banks, 
by  mountain-streams  swollen  with  rain  or  engorged  by 
the  dissolving  snows  of  winter,  may  account  for  the 
inhumation  of  these  cabins  within  a  comparatively 
short  period  after  their  abandonment. 

In  Valley-Eiver  Valley,  the  writer  is  informed,8 
eleven  old  shafts  have  been  found,  varying  in  depth 
from  ninety  to  one  hundred  feet.  In  1854,  one  of 
them  was  cleaned  out,  and  at  the  depth  of  ninety  feet 
the  workmen  found  a  windlass  of  post-oak,  well  hewn, 

1  White's  "Historical  Collections  of  Georgia,"  p.  487.     Stephenson's  "Geol- 
ogy and  Mineralogy  of  Georgia,"  p.  208.     Atlanta,  Ga.,  1871. 

2  MS.  letter  from  Dr.  Stephenson. 


EVIDENCES    OF   EAKLY    MINING.  49 

with  an  inch  augur-hole  bored  through  each  end. 
Distinct  traces  appeared  where  it  had  been  banded 
with  iron.  The  crank  and  gudgeon-holes  were  still  in 
excellent  preservation.  Another  shaft,  for  twenty-five 
feet,  passed  through  gneiss-rock.  Its  sides  were 
scarred  by  the  marks  of  the  sharp  tools  used  in  for- 
cing a  passage  through  this  hard  substance.  There 
were  no  signs  of  blasting.  Below  the  water-level  the 
casing-boards  and  timbers  were  sound,  although  dis- 
colored by  the  sulphurets  of  copper  and  iron. 

Six  miles  southeast  of  this  locality  are  five  other 
shafts  similar  in  age  and  construction.  The  trees 
growing  in  the  mouths  and  upon  the  edges  of  these 
abandoned  pits  were  not  less  than  two  hundred  years 
old. 

The  presence  of  iron  and  the  marks  of  sharp  metal- 
lic tools  prove  that  these  ancient  mining  operations 
cannot  be  referred  to  the  labors  of  the  Indians.  The 
narratives  of  the  career  of  De  Soto  are  filled  with  ac- 
counts furnished  by  the  natives  of  the  presence  of  gold 
in  certain  designated  localities,  and  their  exaggerated 
statements  continually  inflamed  the  cupidity  of  the 
adventurers  who  accompanied  the  Adelantado  on  his 
wild  march  from  Puerto  del  Espiritu  Santo  to  the 
broad  prairies  beyond  the  Mississippi.  In  plate  xli.  of 
the  "  BrevisNarratio  "  De  Bry  presents  an  extravagant 
and  evidently  imaginary  illustration  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  natives  gathered  gold  in  the  streams  issuing 
from  the  Apalatcy  Mountains.  These  gold  and  silver- 
bearing  mountains — if  we  rightly  interpret  the  con- 
fused map  accompanying  the  work  to  which  we  have 
just  alluded — were  situated  somewhere  in  or  near 
the  northeastern  part  of  Georgia.  There  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  De  Soto  passed  through  Nacoo- 


50  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

chee  Valley  and  thence  pursued  Lis  wanderings  by  way 
of  tlie  Oostenaula  or  Etowah  Valley  to  their  conflu- 
ence. There  stood  the  ancient  village  of  Chiaha,  and 
there  now  stands  the  beautiful  town  of  Koine. 

While  lingering  among  the  mountains  and  valleys 
of  North  Carolina  and  Georgia,  earnest  and  repeated 
inquiries  were  made  by  the  Spanish  adventurer  re- 
specting the  existence  of  precious  metals  in  that  region. 
Parties  were  dispatched  by  him  to  examine  the  coun- 
try and  ascertain  the  precise  places  where  the  Indians 
were  said  to  be  engaged  in  mining.  While  it  does  not 
appear  from  any  of  the  narratives  that  De  Soto  and  his 
followers  actually  undertook  any  mining  operations — 
other  than  perhaj)S  a  limited  examination  of  the  surface 
of  the  ground — or  that  they  had  with  them  tools  and 
mechanical  appliances  which  would  have  enabled  them 
to  have  penetrated  the  bowels  of  the  hills  and  utilized 
the  ores  which  they  contained,  it  is  quite  evident  that 
they  recognized  this  as  an  auriferous  region  and  were 
greatly  disappointed  at  their  failure  to  secure  a  consid- 
erable quantity  of  the  coveted  treasure. 

The  question  still  recurs,  Who  sunk  these  shafts, 
and,  in  that  early  day,  exj^encled  so  much  labor  in  ear- 
nest quest  for  gold  ?  Dr.  Brinton,  in  an  article  pub- 
lished in  the  Historical  Magazine,1  has  collected  some 
authorities  which  suggest  a  probable  response  to  the 
inquiry. 

So  earned  away  was  Luis  de  Velasco  with  the  rep- 
resentations made  by  the  returned  soldiers  of  De  Soto's 
Expedition,  with  regard  to  the  gold,  silver,  and  pearls 
abounding  in  the  province  of"  Cosa,"  that  he  dispatched 
his  general,  Tristan  de  Luna,  to  open  communication 
with  Cosa  by  the  way  of  Pensacola  Bay.     Three  hun- 

1  First  Series,  vo\  r.,  p.  137. 


EARLY    MINING   IN   NORTHERN    GEORGIA.  51 

dred  Spanish  soldiers  of  this  expedition  penetrated 
quite  to  the  valley  of  the  Coosa,  in  Northern  Georgia 
and  there  passed  the  summer  of  1560.  Juan  Pardo 
was  subsequently  sent  by  Aviles — the  first  Governor 
of  Florida — to  establish  a  fort  at  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tains northwest  of  St.  Augustine,  in  the  province  of  the 
chief  Coaba.  It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  the  Span- 
iards  both  knew  and  endeavored,  at  this  early  period, 
to  avail  themselves  of  the  gold  deposits  in  Upper 
Georgia.  The  German  traveller,  Johannes  Lederer, 
who  visited  North  Carolina  and  Virginia  in  1669  and 
1670,  and  wrote  an  account  of  his  adventures  in  Latin, 
asserts  that  the  Spaniards  were  then  working  gold  and 
silver  mines  in  the  Appalachian  Mountains.  He  avers 
that  he  saw  specimens  of  the  ore  among  the  Western 
tribes,  and  brought  samples  of  it  back  with  him. 
"  Had  I  had  with  me,"  he  adds,  "  half  a  score  of  reso- 
lute youths  who  would  have  stuck  to  me,  I  would  have 
pushed  on  to  the  Spanish  mines." 

In  1690,  while  making  a  journey  over  the  "Apala- 
thean  Mountains"  for  inland  discovery  and  trade  with 
the  natives,  Mr.  James  Moore  was  informed  by  the  Im 
dians  that  the  Spaniards  were  at  work  irpon  mines 
within  twenty  miles  of  the  place  where  he  then  was. 
The  Indians  described  to  him  the  bellows  and  furnaces 
used  by  these  miners,  and  offered  to  conduct  him  to  the 
spot.  A  difference  between  himself  and  his  guides, 
however,  prevented  his  visiting  these  mines.1  Subse- 
quently Mr.  Moore  volunteered  to  lead  a  party  to  these 
mines,  but  the  scheme  fell  through. 

These  authorities,  if  they  do  no  more,  intimate  that 
in  the  seventeenth  century  it  was  believed  that  the 

1  "  Collections  of  the  South  Carolina  Historical  Society,"  vol.  i.,  p.  209.    Charles- 
ton, 1857. 


52  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

Spaniards  were  at  work  in  this  region  seeking  earnestly 
for  gold,  and  enable  us  to  account,  with  at  least  some 
degree  of  probability,  for  those  physical  traces  of  an- 
cient mining  observed  by  the  early  settlers  of  Upper 
Georgia — operations  of  no  mean  significance,  and  which 
cannot  reasonably  be  ascribed  either  to  the  Indians  or 
to  the  followers  of  De  Soto. 

Returning  from  this  digression,  we  would  state 
that  in  the  manufacture  of  articles  of  stone,  bone,  shell, 
wood,  skin,  and  feathers,  the  ingenuity  and  skill  of 
the  primitive  workmen  found  varied  and  interesting 
expression.  The  stone  period  is  here  richly  repre- 
sented. We  have  both  chipped  and  polished  stone 
implements  of  unusual  diversity,  beautiful  material, 
and  most  creditable  workmanship.  A  comparison  be- 
tween the  tastes  and  labors  of  the  Southern  and  North- 
ern Indians  in  this, -as  well  as  in  almost  every  other 
respect,  results  most  favorably  to  the  forme:*.  As  our 
attention  will,  in  subsequent  chapters,  be  specially 
directed  to  an  examination  of  these  various  articles 
and  implements,  it  is  necessary  liere  only  to  allude  to 
the  existence  of  spear  and  arrow  points,  pipes — plain, 
bird,  and  animal-shaped — axes  grooved  and  ungrooved, 
perforated  and  ornamental,  chipped  and  ground — 
gouges,  chisels,  awls,  knives,  scrapers,  smoothing-stones, 
mortars,  pestles,  crushing-stones,  net-sinkers,  tubes, 
pendants,  gorgets,  pins,  sling-stones,  discoidal  stones, 
nut-stones,  images,  and  numerous  other  articles.  In 
their  manufacture,  flint,  jasper,  quartz,  chalcedony, 
slate,  steatite,  hornblende,  diorite,  greenstone,  soaj> 
stone,  graywacke  and  hematite  were  principally  em- 
ployed. Great  pains  were  often  expended  in  their 
construction.  For  their  pipes  and  discoidal  stones  the 
Cherokees  were  famous.     Many  of  the  axes,  and  ar- 


PRIMITIVE    CANOE    UNEARTHED.  53 

row  and  spear  heads,  are  marvels  of  symmetry  and 
beauty.  The  attention  of  the  workers  in  shell  was 
mainly  directed  to  the  manufacture  of  beads,  head- 
ornaments,  gorgets,  armlets,  wampum,  pins  and  per- 
forated disks.  Upon  the  ornamentation  of  the  gor- 
gets much  labor  and  ingenuity  were  bestowed.  Pearls, 
obtained  from  salt-water  shells  and  the  fluviatile  and 
lacustrine  unionicke,  were  perforated  -by  means  of 
heated  copper  spindles,  and  strung  and  worn  around 
the  neck,  arms,  wrists,  waist  and  ankles. 

Plates  of  mica  were  used  as  looking-glasses,  and 
for  the  ornamentation  of  the  walls  of  drinking-cups. 
In  the  latter  case,  circular,  square,  oval,  and  diamond- 
shaped  pieces  were  pressed  in  the  clay  while  still  soft 
— the  edges  being  slightly  embedded.  When  the  ves- 
sel became  hard,  their  retention  was  insured. 

Boats — some  of  them  large  enough  to  convey  forty 
persons — were  made  of  the  trunks  of  trees.  The  tree 
was  felled,  cut  off  at  the  desired  length,  and  hollowed 
-^.out  by  fire.  Through  its  agency  also,  its  sides  were 
shaped,  and  both  the  interior  and  exterior  of  the  canoe 
scraped  and  smoothed  by  means  of  shells  and  hand- 
axes  or  gouges.  Bark  canoes  were  seldom  if  ever 
used.1     They  belong  to  colder  waters. 


In  1845,  while  digging  a  canal  on  one  of  the  rice- 
plantations,  on  the  Savannah  Kiver,  located  only  a 
few  miles  distant  from  the  city  of  Savannah,  at  a 
depth  of  three  feet  and  a  half  below  the  surface  of  the 

1  Smith's  "History  of  Virginia,"  vol.  i.,  p.  132.     Richmond  reprint,  1S19. 


54  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

swamp,  the  workmen  came  upon  a  canoe  embedded  in 
the  soil.  It  answered  to  the  description  of  what  is 
familiarly  known  as  a  dug-out,  and  had  been  fashioned 
from  the  trunk  of  a  cypress-tree  (see  illustration). 
About  eleven  feet  long  and  thirty  inches  wide,  its 
depth  was  scarcely  more  than  ten  inches.  Both  bow 
and  stern  were  strengthened,  each  by  a  wooden  brace 
kept  in  position  by  wooden  pins  passing  througli  the 
sides  of  the  canoe  and  entering  the  braces  at  either  end. 
This  •  boat  curved  upward  at  either  end,  so  that  the 
bow  and  stern  rose  above  the  middle  portion.  Lo- 
cated about  three  feet  from  the  stern  was  seat  nine 
inches  wide,  consisting  of  a  rude  cypress-plank.  For 
its  reception  the  sides  of  the  canoe  had  been  notched 
three  inches  below  the  gunwales,  and  it  was  further 
kept  in  position  by  four  wooden  pins — two  on  each 
side — driven  through  the  boat  and  entering  the  seat  at 
either  end  as  in  the  case  of  the  bow  and  stern  braces. 

The  bottom  was  flat,  the  sides  rounding.  No  ef- 
fort had  been  made  to  form  a  keel.  The  bow  and 
stern  were  both  pointed,  and  not  unlike  in  their  gen- 
eral outlines,  the  latter  being  more  blunt  than  the  for- 
mer. At  the  top  the  sides  were  rather  more  than  half 
an  inch  in  thickness — increasing,  however,  as  they 
descended  and  curved  below  the  water-line. 

When  cleaned  and  dried,  this  canoe  weighed  sixty 
pounds,  and  could  be  transported  with  the  greatest 
facility  by  a  single  individual.  The  agency  of  fire  had 
obviously  been  invoked  in  the  construction  of  this  lit- 
tle boat.  While  there  were  no  marks  of  sharp  cutting- 
tools,  the  evidence  appeared  conclusive  that  the  charred 
portions  of  the  wood,  both  within  and  without,  had 
been  carefully  removed  by  rude  incisive  implements, 
probably  of  shell  or  stone.    The  plan  of  felling  the  tree 


MANUFACTURE   OF    ANCIENT   CANOES.  53 

and  of  hollowing  out  the  log,  as  perpetuated  in  one  of 
De  Bry's  illustrations,1  seems  to  have  been  observed  in 
this  instance.  Kegarding  the  regularity  with  which 
the  outlines  and  the  relative  thicknesses  of  the  sides 
of  this  boat  had  been  preserved,  one  could  but  admire 
the  care  and  skill  with  which  that  dangerous  element, 
fire,  had  been  made  subservient  to  the  uses  of  the 
primitive  boat-builder.  It  is  entirely  probable  that 
the  ordinary  stone  celts,  chisels,  gouges,  scrapers,  or 
simple  shells,  were  the  only  implements  at  command 
for  the  removal  of  the  charred  surface,  as  the  cypress- 
tree  was  by  degrees  converted  into  the  convenient  dug- 
out. 

In  all  likelihood,  this  scraping  was  done  with  a 
shell.  Such  is  the  intimation  given  in  an  early  ac- 
count of  the  manufacture  of  canoes  by  the  Virginia 
Indians :  "  Mira  est  in  Virginia  cymbas  fabricandi 
ratio ;  nam  cum  ferreis  instruments  aut  aliis  nostris 
similibus  careant,  eas  tamen  parare  norunt  nostris  non 
minus  commodas  ad  nauiqandum  quo  lubet  per.  flu- 
mina  &  ad  piscandum.  Primum  arbore  aliqua  cras- 
sa  &  alta  delecta,  pro  cymbae  quam  parare  volunt 
magnitudine,  ignem  circa  eius  radices  summa  tel- 
lure  in  ambitu  struunt  ex  arbore  musco  bene  re- 
siccato  &  ligni  assulis  paulatim  ignem  excitantes, 
ne  namma  altius  ascendat  &  arboris  longitudinem 
minuat.  Ptene  adusta  &  ruinam  minante  arbore, 
nouum  suscitant  ignem,  quem  nagrare  sinunt  donee 
arbor  sponte  cadat.  Adustis  deinde  arboris  fastigio 
<fe  ramis  vt  truncus  instam  longitudinem  retineat,  tig- 
nis  transuersis  supra  furcas  positis,  imponunt,  ea  alti- 
tudine  vt  commode  laborare  possint,  tunc  cortice  con- 
chis  quibusdani  adempto,  integriorem  trunci  partem 

1  "  Admirandd  Narratio,"  plate  xii. 


56  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

pro  cymbse  inferiore  parte  seruant,  in  altera  parte  ig- 
nem  secundum  trunci  longitudinern  struunt,  prgeter- 
quam  extremis,  quod  satis  adustum  illis  videtur,  re- 
stincto  igne  cochis  scabunt,  &  nouo  suscitato  igne 
denuo  adurunt,  atque  ita  deinceps  pergunt,  subinde 
urentes  &  scabentes,  donee  cymba  necessarium  alu- 
eum  nacta  sit.  Sic  Domini  spiritus  rudibus  hominibus 
suggerit  rationem  qua  res  in  suum  usuni  necessarias 
conflcere  queant."  ' 

This  canoe  bad  evidently  lain  for  a  very  long  time 
in  its  present  position,  and  seemed  to  nave  settled 
gradually.  There  was  an  accumulation  of  forty  inches 
of  mud  and  soil  above  it,  and  around  lay  the  rotting 
trunks,  arms,  and  roots  of  forest-trees  which,  during 
the  lapse  of  years,  had  died  and  become  intermingled 
with  the  debris  of  the  swamp.  Above  the  spot  were 
growing  cypress-trees  as  large  and  seemingly  as  old  as 
any  in  the  surrounding  forest. 

It  is  difficult  to  form  a  satisfactory  estimate  of  the 
age  of  this  relic.  That  embedded  cypress  is,  for  an 
almost  indefinite  period,  wellnigh  indestructible  by 
ordinary  agencies,  is  capable  of  proof.  We  have  but 
to  instance  the  salt-marshes  along  the  line  of  the 
Georgia  coast,  in  not  a  few  of  which,  at  the  depth  of 
several  feet  below  the  surface,  may  still  be  found  the 
clearly-defined  and  well-preserved  traces  of  cypress- 
forests,  consisting  of  limbs,  trunks,  knees,  and  roots. 
In  former  years,  at  least  some  of  these  salt-marshes 
must  have  been  fresh-water  swamps ;  and,  without  the 
violent  intervention  of  some  marked  convulsion  of 
Nature,  of  which  we  have  no  record,  and  for  which  no 
plausible  reason  can  be  assigned,  centuries  must  have 

1  "  Admiranda  Narratio  "  et  cret.,  plate  xii.   Francororti  al  Moer.um.    De  Bry, 
anno  1590. 


ANTIQUITY    OF   THE    BURIED    CANOE.  5< 

elapsed  before  a  gradual  settling  of  the  coast  could 
Lave  occurred  to  sucli  an  extent  as  to  have  admitted 
the  influx  of  tidal  waves  converting  cypress-swainps 
into  extensive,  uniform  salt-marshes,  destroying  the 
original  growth,  and  finally  covering  the  fallen  forests 
with  mud  to  the  depth  of  several  feet. 

We  are  not  aware  that  a  sufficiently-accurate  rec- 
ord has  been  kept  of  the  annual  deposit  of  mud  from 
the  overflowing  waters  of  the  Savannah  River,  to  en- 
able us  to  derive  from  this  source  a  plausible  conject- 
ure as  to  the  age  of  this  canoe.  So  many  uncertain- 
ties enter  into  calculations  of  this  character,  that  in 
most  instances  all  attempts  to  arrive  at  definite  results 
fall  far  short  of  satisfactory  conclusions.  All  we  know 
is,  that  this  Indian  canoe  is  old — older  than  the  barge 
which  conveyed  Oglethorpe  up  the  Savannah,  when 
he  first  selected  the  home  of  the  Yamacraws  as  a  site 
for  the  future  commercial  metropolis  of  the  colony  of 
Georgia — more  ancient,  probably,  than  the  statelier 
craft  which  carried  the  fortunes  of  the  discoverer  of 
this  Western  Continent. 

So  far  as  our  information  extends,  this  is  the  first 
and  only  well-authenticated  instance  of  the  exhuma- 
tion of  an  ancient  canoe  in  this  country.  It  is  in  just 
such  a  locality  that  we  might  have  anticipated  with 
greatest  confidence  the  existence  of  such  a  relic.  The 
general  employment  of  bark  and  skin  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  their  canoes  by  Northern  Indians  precludes  all 
reasonable  hope  of  finding  ancient  specimens  made  of 
such  perishable  materials. 

The  use  of  the  dug-out,  like  the  j^resence  of  a  stone 
axe,  or  a  jasper  arrow-point,  tells  a  true  story  of  the 
art-condition  of  the  people  by  whom  it  is  made.  It  is 
the  simplest  form  of  water-craft,  and  evidences  the 


58  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

first  effort  in  the  way  of  navigation.  Hence,  among 
barbarous  tribes,  there  is  no  essential  diversity  either 
in  the  shape  of  these  primitive  boats  or  in  the  meth- 
ods of  their  construction. 

The  'Andaman-islanders  have  single-tree  canoes 
hollowed  out  with  a  j>shaped  axe,  and  in  their  labors 
are  assisted  by  the  action  of  fire.  On  the  northeast- 
ern coast  of  Australia,  the  natives  2  use  boats  formed 
from  a  single  trunk,  hollowed  out  by  fire.  The 
Clalan  Indians  excel  in  the  manufacture  of  dug-outs 
made  from  the  trunks  of  cedar- trees.  In  the  days  of 
Columbus  the  natives 3  of  San  Salvador  fashioned  their 
canoes  from  the  trunks  of  single  trees,  hollowing  them 
out  by  fire  and  polishing  them  with  primitive  adzes  of 
fiint  or  shell.  While  passing  down  the  Mississippi, 
Hennepin4  noted  the  existence,  among  the  natives,  of 
" pirogues  or  heavy  wooden  canows  made  of  the  trunks 
of  trees  and  hollowed  out  with  fire." 

William  Bartram 8  says :  "  These  Indians  (of  South- 
ern Florida)  have  large,  handsome  canoes  which  they 
form  out  of  the  trunks  of  cypress  trees  (cupressus  dis- 
tic7ia),  some  of  them  commodious  enough  to  accommo- 
date twenty  or  thirty  warriors.  In  these  large  canoes 
they  descend  the  river  on  trading  and  hunting  expedi- 
tions to  the  sea-coast,  neighboring  islands  and  keys, 
quite  to  the  point  of  Florida,  and  sometimes  cross  the 
Gulph,  extending  their  navigations  to  the  Bahama  isl- 
ands, and  even  to  Cuba ;  a  crew  of  these  adventurers 
had  just  arrived,  having  returned  from  Cuba  but  a  few 

1  "  Prehistoric  Times."  Sir  J.  Lubbock.  Second  edition.  London,  1869,  p. 
425. 

2  Idem,  p.  429. 

8  Wilson's  "Prehistoric  Man,"  second  edition,  p.  99.     London,  1865. 

4  "  New  Discovery,"  etc.,  p.  153.     London,  1698. 

5  "  Travels,"  etc.,  p.  225.     London,  1792. 


X 


AXCIEXT    CAX0ES.  59 

days  before  our  arrival  with  a  cargo  of  spirituous  liq- 
uors, coffee,  sugar,  and  tobacco.  One  of  them  politely 
presented  me  with  a  choice  piece  of  tobacco,  which  he 
told  me  he  had  received  from  the  Governor  of  Cuba." 

Cabeca  de  Vaca  *  bears  testimony  to  the  presence 
of  wooden  canoes  in  use  among  the  Indians  whom  he 
encountered  in  his  wanderings,  but  does  not  allude  to 
the  manner  in  which  they  were  made. 

In  the  narratives  of  the  career  of  Hernando  de  Soto 
in  the  conquest  of  Florida,  as  told  by  the  Knight  of 
Elvas,  and  related  \>y  Hernandez  de  Biedma,  mention  is 
made  of  canoes  of  considerable  size  and  ornament,  but 
we  are  not  informed  as  to  their  precise  shape  or  meth- 
od of  construction.  They  were  evidently,  however, 
fashioned  from  the  trunks  of  trees. 

Kibault  states  that  the  Florida  Indians  made 
canoes  out  of  single  trees,  capable  of  transporting 
safely  fifteen  or  twenty  persons,  and  that  they  were 
propelled  by  short  paddles — the  rowers  standing  up- 
right in  the  boat. 

Lieutenant  Timberlake,2  speaking  of  the  canoes  in 
use  among  the  Cherokees,  writes :  "  They  are  generally 
made  of  a  large  pine  or  poplar  from  thirty  to  forty  feet 
long,  and  about  two  broad,  with  flat  bottoms  and 
sides,  and  both  ends  alike ;  the  Indians  hollow  them 
now  (1761)  with  the  tools  they  get  from  the  Euro- 
peans, but  formerly  did  it  by  fire."  The  3  buried  ca- 
noes in  the  valley  of  the  Clyde  were  generally  formed 
out  of  a  single  oak-stem,  hollowed  out  by  blunt  tools 
— probably  stone  axes — aided  by  the  action  of  fire. 

1  See  his  "  Relation,"  translated  by  Buckingham  Smith,  p.  54,  et  aliter.     New 
York,  18*71. 

2  "  Memoirs,"  p.  60.     London,  \1§o. 

3  "Antiquity  of  Man."     Sir  Charles  Lyell.     Third   edition,  p.  49.     London, 
1863. 


60  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

A  few  were  "  cut  beautifully  smooth,  evidently  with 
metallic  tools."  "  Hence,"  says  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  "  a 
gradation  could  be  traced  from  a  pattern  of  extreme 
rudeness  to  one  showing  great  mechanical  ingenuity." 
Penicaut  affirms  that  the  canoes  of  the  Indians  of 
Louisiana  were  made  by  setting  fire  to  the  foot  of  a 
cyrjress-tree,  the  fire  continuing  in  the  interior  until 
it  fell  to  the  ground.  "  They  then  burned  it  off  at  the 
desired  length.  When  the  tree  was  burned  suffi- 
ciently for  their  purpose,  they  extinguished  the  fire 
with  moist  earth,  and  scraped  it  out  with  large  shells, 
which  are  very  thick.  They  then  wash  them  with 
water  in  such  a  manner  as  to  give  them  a  fine  polish. 
These  canoes  are  sometimes  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet 
long,  but  they  make  of  them  various  lengths  according 
to  the  uses  for  which  they  are  intended."  ' 

From  Bossu's  "  Travels  "  we  extract  the  following 
account :  "  Before  the  French  came  into  Louisiana  the 
Indians  constructed  their  boats  in  the  following  man- 
ner. They  went  to  the  banks  of  some  rivers,  which 
are  very  numerous  in  this  vast  region,  and  which  by 
their  rapidity  tear  up  by  the  roots  the  trees  which 
stand  on  their  banks.  They  took  their  dimensions 
for  length  and  breadth,  and  accordingly  chose  such  a 
tree  as  they  wanted ;  after  which  they  set  fire  to  it, 
and  as  the  tree  burnt  on  they  scraped  away  the  live 
coals  with  a  flint  or  an  arrow,  and  having  sufficiently 
hollowed  it  out,  they  set  it  afloat.  They  are  very  well 
skilled  in  constructing  these  little  vessels  upon  their 
lakes  and  rivers.  They  employ  them  in  time  of  war, 
and  likewise  load  them  with  the  furs  and  dried  flesh 
which  they  bring  back  from  their  hunts."  2 

1  See  "  Historical  Collections  of  Louisiana  and  Florida."    French's  new  series. 
J.  Sabin  &  Sons,  New  York,  1869. 

2  "  Travels  through  Louisiana,"  etc.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  -22,  223.     London,  1771. 


ANCIENT    CANOES.  (31 

Compared  with  the  boats  figured  by  De  Biy,1  or 
tlie  einbaum  of  Robenhausen,  or  that  taken  from  the 
peat-moor  of  Mercurango,  or  that  found  in  the  nook 
of  Moringen,  as  represented  in  Keller's  "  Lake  Dwell- 
ings," the  Savannah  River  eanoe  is  more  symmetrical 
and  less  trough-shaped  than  them  all,  and  assimilates 
more  nearly  to  the  form  of  the  modern  canoe.  The 
addition  of  the  braces  in  the  bow  and  stern  is  unusual, 
and  the  presence  of  the  seat  is  by  no  means  custom- 
ary. 

The  primitive  river-craft  of  any  people,  no  matter 
how  low  in  the  scale  of  civilization,  is  interesting,  and, 
when  the  former  occupants  of  the  soil  have  passed 
away,  leaving  behind  them  relics  at  best  but  few  and 
frail,  we  experience  a  sense  of  genuine  satisfaction  as 
Ave  are  thus  furnished  with  the  physical  proof  of  the 
precise  manner  in  which  the  Indians  of  Georgia  con- 
structed the  light  barks  in  which  they  committed 
themselves  to  the  waters  of  the  Savannah.  This  rude 
boat  from  the  Savannah  swamp,  perhaps  the  very 
first  ancient  American  canoe  "which  has  been  un- 
earthed, confirms  our  conjectures,  and  substantially 
verifies  the  earliest  and  most  reliable  representations 
which  have  been  preserved  of  the  Indian  canoe  of  the 
Southern  waters. 

Shawls,  coverings,  and  articles  of  dress,  were  made 
of  feathers,  of  buffalo,  deer,  and  bear  skins,  and  the 
hides  of  other  animals,  and  were  woven  by  hand  out 
of  certain  fibres.  Fishing  lines  and  nets  were  formed 
of  the  inner  bark  of  trees,  and  convenient  mats  and 
baskets  fashioned  with  split  canes,  reeds,  and  rushes. 

Some    of    the    feather   mantles   were    beautifully 

1  *' Admiranda  Narratio,"  plates  xii.,  xiii.  Francoforti  ad  Mcenum.  De  Bry, 
anno  1590.  "  Brevis  Narratio,"  plates  xxii.,  xlii.  Francoforti  ad  Moenum. 
De  Bry,  anno  1591. 


* 


62  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

wrought,  and  upon  the  well-dressed  skins  of  animals 
were  depicted  various  designs. 

Mortars  and  pestles,  bows,  spoons,  and  platters, 
seats  or  benches,  ornamental  posts  used  in  dancing,  and 
huge  images  were  fashioned  of  wood. 

Shell-beads  answered  as  a  medium  of  exchange  or 
currency.  Fire  was  produced  by  the  vehement  collision 
or  rubbing  together  of  two  sticks. 

They  prepared  their  skins  by  first  soaking  them  in 
water.  The  hair  was  then  removed  by  the  aid  of  a 
bone  or  stone  scraper.  Deer's  brains  were  next  dis- 
solved in  water,  and  in  this  mixture  the  skins  were 
allowed  to  remain  until  they  became  thoroughly  satu- 
rated! They  were  then  gently  dried,  and,  while  drying, 
were  continually  worked  by  hand  and  scraped  with  an 
oyster-shell  or  some  suitable  stone  implement  to  free 
them  from  every  impurity  and  render  them  soft  and 
pliable.  In  order  that  they  might  not  become  hard, 
when  exposed  to  rain,  they  were  cured  in  smoke,  and 
tanned  with  the  bark  of  trees.  Young  Indian-corn, 
beaten  to  a  pulp,  answered  the  same  purpose  as  the 
deer's  brains.1 

Laboriously-constructed  dams  and  intricate  wears 
were  employed  in  the  capture  of  fish. 

In  painting  and  rock- wetting,  the  efforts  of  the 
Southern  Indians  were  confined  to  the  fanciful  and  pro- 
fuse ornamentation  of  their  own  persons  with  various 
colors,  in  which  red,  yellow,  and  black  predominated, 
and  to  marks,  signs,  and  figures,  depicted  on  skins  and 
scratched  on  wood,  the  shoulder-blade  of  a  buffalo,  or 
on  stone.  The  smooth  bark  of  a  standing  tree  or  the 
face  of  a  rock  was  used  to  commemorate  some  feat  of 

1  "Natural  History  of  North  Carolina,"  etc.,  by  John  Brickell,  M.  D.,  p.  364. 
Dublin,  1737.     Du  Pratz's  "  History  of  Louisiana,"  vol,  ii.,  p.  224.     London,  1763. 


PAINTING    AND    ROCK-WRITING.  03 

arms,  to  indicate  the  direction  and  strength  of  a  mili- 
tary expedition,  or  the  solemnization  of  a  treaty  of 
peace.  High  up  the  perpendicular  sides  of  mountain- 
gorges,  and  at  points  apparently  inaccessible,  save  to 
the  fowls  of  the  air,  are  seen  representations  of  the  sun 
and  moon,1  accompanied  by  rude  characters,  the  signifi- 
cance of  which  is  frequently  unknown  to  the  present 
observer.  The  motive  which  incited  to  the  execution 
of  work  so  perilous  was,  doubtless,  religious  in  its 
character,  and  directly  connected  with  the  worship  of 
the  sun  and  his  pale  consort  of  the  night. 

Coarsely  done  and  barren  of  interest,  this  pictog- 
raphy feebly  expresses  the  rudest  attempts  at  imita- 
tion by  means  of  colored  chalks  and  the  pointed  frag- 
ment of  a  flint.  Ignorant  of  phonetic  symbols  and  of 
letters,  the  ideographic  characters  which  they  employed 
were  such  as  are  more  or  less  common  to  all  semi- 
barbarians.2  This  primitive  system  of  intaglios  and 
picture-writing — designed  to  convey  intelligence  and 
record  events — was  supplemented  by  the  use  of  warn- 
puni,  of  which  we  will  speak  more  at  large  hereafter.8 

The  art  of  dyeing  feathers,  fibres,  rushes,  and  splints 
of  cane  and  wood,  as  well  as  the  quills  of  birds  and 
animals,  to  be  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  garments, 
coverings,  mats,  baskets,  and  belts,  was  generally  un- 
derstood and  practised. 

The  trade  relations  existing  among  these  primi- 
tive peoples  were  extensive.  The  principal  articles  of 
barter  were  copper,  flint  and  stone  implements,  pipes, 

1  Haywood's  "Natural  and  Aboriginal  History  of  Tennessee,"  p.  113.  Nash- 
ville, 1823. 

2  See  Ewbank's  "  North  American  Rock-writing,"  p.  8.   Morrisania,  N.  Y.,  1866. 

3  Compare  "  Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  chap,  xviii.  Wash- 
ington, 1848.  "Journal  of  the  Anthropological  Institute  of  New  York,"  vol.  i., 
p.  57,  et  seq.     Bradford's  "  American  Antiquities,"  p.  182.     New  York,  1843. 


64  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIAN?. 

shell-ornaments,  pearls,  and  skins.  Galena,  obsidian, 
mica,  and  small  masses  of  native  gold  and  silver  also 
formed  subjects  of  merchandise.  Between  the  coast 
and  the  interior  a  constant  interchange  of  commodities 
was  maintained.  The  beautiful  jasper  and  flint  arrow 
and  spear  points,  stone  pipes,  discoidal  stones,  and 
various  articles  manufactured  by  the  dwellers  among 
the  mountains,  were  readily  sold  to  the  coast-tribes, 
who  gave  in  exchange  for  them  shells,  pearls,  and  com- 
modities, native  to  their  region,  and  held  in  esteem  by 
those  at  a  distance.  The  j)rimitive  merchantmen  en- 
gaged in  this  traffic  were  held  in  special  repute,  were 
generously  treated,  and  had  at  all  times  safe-conduct 
through  the  territories  even  of  those  who  were  at  war 
with  each  other.  From  the  same  stone  grave  in  Nacoo- 
chee  Valley  were  taken  an  ornamental  copper  axe  from 
the  shores  of  Lake  Superior,  a  large  cassis  from  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  stone  weapons  made  of  materi- 
als entirely  foreign  to  that  locality.  The  sepulchral 
mouMs  and  relic  beds  contain  articles  brought  from  a 
distance,  and  very  frequently  the  finest  specimens  are 
obtained  at  the  farthest  remove  from  the  spot  whence 
the  material  used  in  their  manufacture  was  procured. 
In  this  circumstance  we  trace  the  intervention  of  the 
merchantman,  and  his  inclination,  even  at  that  remote 
period,  to  find  special  favor  in  the  eyes  of  his  customers. 
This  early  commerce  among  the  North  American 
Indians  is  a  subject  full  of  interest,  and  Prof.  C. 
Eau,  in  his  recent  article,  entitled  "  Die  Tauschverhalt- 
nisse  der  Eingebornen  Nordamerika's,"  published  in 
the  first  quarterly  number  of  the  fifth  volume  of  the 
"  Archiv  fiir  Anthropologic,"  has  bestowed  upon  its  con- 
sideration much  care  and  research. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Marriage  and  Divorce. — Punishment  of  Adultery. — Costume  and  Ornaments. — 
Skin-painting  and  Tattooing. — Manufacture  of  Carpets,  Feather-shawls,  and 
Moccasins. — Weaving. 

The  customs  obtaining  among  tlie  Creeks  about 
the  close  of  the  last  century,  with  respect  to  marriage 
and  divorce,  are  thus  detailed  by  Colonel  Hawkins : l 
The  suitor  never  applies  in  person,  but  sends  his 
sister,  mother  or  other  female  relative,  to  the  female 
relations  of  the  woman  he  desires  to  secure  as  his  wife. 
Brothers  and  uncles  on  the  maternal  side,  and  some- 
times the  father,  are  consulted,  but  this  is  simply  a 
matter  of  compliment,  as  neither  their  approval  nor 
opposition  is  of  any  avail.  If  the  match  is  regarded 
with  favor,  a  gracious  answer  is  returned  to  the  wom- 
an who  made  the  application.  The  bridegroom  there- 
upon sends  a  blanket  and  such  articles  of  clothing  as 
he  possesses  to  the  females  of  the  bride's  family.  If 
accepted,  the  contract  of  marriage  is  concluded,  and 
he  may  enter  the  house  of  his  future  wife  as  soon  as 
he  chooses.  Having  built  himself  a  cabin,  made  a 
crop  and  gathered  it  in,  hunted  and  brought  home  his 
game  and  placed  every  thing  in  the  possession  of  his 

1  "  Sketch  of  the  Creek  Confederacy."     Collections  of  the  Georgia  Historical 
Society,  vol.  hi.,  part  1,  p.  73.     S.ivannah,  1848. 
5 


CG  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

wife,  the  preliminary  ceremony  ends,  and  the  woman 
is  bound.  From  the  time  of  his  first  visit  to  the  house 
of  the  woman  until  the  termination  of  the  ceremony, 
she  is  completely  subject  to  his  will  in  every  particu- 
lar. A  man  never  marries  a  member  of  his  own  tribe. 
Marriage  gives  the  husband  no  right  over  the  property 
of  the  wife;  and,  in  case  of  separation,  she  keeps  the 
children,  and  all  property  belonging  to  them. 

Divorce  occurs  as  a  matter  of  mutual  consent,  or  at 
the  choice  of  either  party — the  man  having  the  right  to 
marry  again  at  will,  but  the  woman,  except  during  the 
continuation  of  the  marriage  ceremony,  being  bound 
until  the  feasts  of  the  Boosketau  of  that  year  are  over. 

As  a  general  rule,  adultery  on  the  part  of  the  fe- 
male only  is  punished.  The  matter  is  taken  in  charge 
by  the  family  or  tribe  of  the  husband.  The  members 
assemble,  consult,  and  determine  upon  a  course  of  ac- 
tion. If  the  proof  be  clear,  and  they  conclude  to  pun- 
ish the  offenders,  they  divide  and  proceed  to  appre- 
hend them.  One  half  goes  to  the  woman's  house  and 
the  remainder  to  the  family  house  of  the  adulterer,  or 
they  all  go  together  to  each  place  if  they  have  so  re- 
solved. If  the  offenders  are  apprehended,  they  are 
beaten  severely  with  sticks  and  then  cropped.  The 
hair  of  the  woman  is  carried  in  triumph  to  the  public 
square.  If  only  one  of  the  offenders  be  taken,  satis- 
faction is  had  of  the  nearest  relative  of  the  j^arty  who 
escaped.  If  both  make  their  escape,  and  the  family 
or  tribe  of  the  husband  return  home  and  lay  down 
the  sticks,  the  crime  is  forgiven.  One  family  only,  the 
"  Wind  "  (Ho-tul-ul-gee),  can  take  up  the  sticks  a  sec- 
ond time.  Should  the  offending  parties  succeed  in  ab- 
senting themselves  until  the  Boos-ke-tau  is  over,  they 
are  pardoned,   because,    at  that  solemn   festival,  uni- 


ADULTERY   AND    ITS    PUNISHMENT.  67 

versal  forgiveness  is  proclaimed  for  all  offences  save 
murder. 

In  a  letter  dated  the  9th  of  June,  1733,  Mr.  Ogle- 
thorpe, speaking  of  the  Indians  in  the  vicinity  of  Sa- 
vannah, says,  "  They  abhor  adultery,  and  do  not  ap- 
prove of  a  plurality  of  wives."  He  further  states  that, 
where  adultery  had  been  committed,  the  injured  hus- 
band was  entitled  to  his  revenge  by  cutting  off  the 
ears  of  the  adulterer ;  and,  if  physically  unable  to 
inflict  this  punishment,  he  had  a  right  to  kill  him  the 
first  time  he  could  do  so  with  safety.  The  Eev.  Mr. 
Bolzius1  records  the  fact  that,  on  the  26th  of  March, 
1734,  an  Indian  (probably  of  the  Yam acraw  tribe)  cut 
off  both  the  ears  and  the  hair  of  his  wife,  because  she 
had  been  too  familiar  with  a  white  man.  This  he 
avers  to  have  been  the  usual  punishment  for  adultery 
in  vogue  among  the  Indians  in  Southern  Georgia. 

Adultery  among  the  Creeks,  during  Captain  Ro- 
mans's "'  sojourn  among  them,  was  punished  by  severe 
flagellations,  and  the  loss  of  the  hair,  nose,  and  ears  of 
both  parties.     Sometimes  the  man's  nose  was  spared. 

Of  infidelity  in  the  husband  no  notice  seems  to 
have  been  taken,  except  in  cases  where  he  had  in- 
fringed upon  the  vested  rights  of  another  of  the  same 
sex ;  and  then  he  was  liable  only  to  such  punishment 
as  the  anger  or  ability  of  the  injured  husband  might 
lead  him  to  inflict. 

These  marriage  customs  varied  with  almost  every 
nation  and  tribe.3     The  intervention  of  a  priest  to  im- 

1  "Extract  of  the  Journals  of  Mr.  Commissary  Von  Reck,"  etc.,  p.  49.  London, 
1734. 

3  "Concise  Natural  History  of  East  and  West  Florida,"  p.  98.  New  York,  1115. 

3  See  Du  Pratz's  "  History  of  Louisiana,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  197.  London,  1763. 
Bossu's  "Travels,"  etc.,  vol.  i.,  p.  232.  London,  1771.  Bartram's  "  Travels," 
p.  512.    London,  1792.     Lawson's  "  History  of  Carolina,"  p.  1  So.    London,  1714. 


63  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

part  any  thing  like  solemnity  to  the  contubernal  rela- 
tionship, thus  established,  appears  never  to  have  been 
thought  of.  The  tie — such  as  it  was — originated  in 
the  fancy  of  the  male,  was  at  first  sanctioned  by  the 
female  friends  of  the  woman,  and  in  other  cases  by 
the  cacique  or  head  men  of  the  tribe,  and  was  dissolu- 
ble at  the  option  of  either  party. 

The  Cherokees  in  the  olden  time  are  said  to  have 
had  no  laws  against  adultery.  Speaking  generally,  it 
may  be  affirmed  that  the  Southern  Indians  were  mo- 
nogamous J  for  the  time  being.  This,  however,  was 
simply  a  matter  of  choice,  and  not  of  compulsion. 
The  Muscogulges  formed  a  marked  exception  to  this 
rule.  With  them  polygamy  obtained  with  the  utmost 
latitude — the  first  wife  being  esteemed  the  queen  or 
superior,  and  the  others  her  hand-maids  and  associ- 
ates.2 While  polygamy  was  allowed  among  the  Creeks, 
Captain  Romans3  declares  that  it  was  not  usually 
practised.  The  only  ceremonies  attendant  upon  their 
marriages  consisted  in  making  some  presents  to  the 
parents  of  the  bride,  and  in  feasting  at  the  hut  of  the 
wife's  father. 

Intermarriages  of  first  cousins  was  not  permitted. 
■^  If  an  Indian  debauched  his  sister  or  any  very  near  re- 
lative, his  body  was  burnt  and  his  ashes  thrown  into 

Brickeirs  "Natural  History  of  North  Carolina,"  p.  304.  Dublin,  1737.  Hay- 
wood's "  Natural  and  Aboriginal  History  of  Tennessee,"  p.  276.  Nashville,  1823. 
Adair's  "  History  of  the  North  American  Indians,"  p.  138.  London,  1775.  Hen- 
nepin's "  Continuation  of  the  New  Discovery,"  chap.  xvii.     London,  1698. 

1  "Singuli  singulas  habent  uxores,"  says  De  Bry.  "  Regibus  autem  binas  aut 
ternas  habere  permissum  :  Sola  tamen  primum  ducta  colitur  &  pro  Regina 
agnoscitur." 

"Brevis  Narratio,"  p.  4.  Francoforti  ad  Mcenum,  anno  1591.  Cabeca  de 
Vaca  says  :  "  Every  man  has  an  acknowledged  wife.  The  physicians  are  allowed 
more  freedom;  they  may  have  two  or  three  wives,  among  whom  exist  the  greatest 
friendship  and  harmony." 

4  Bartram's  "  Travels,"  p.  513.     London,  1792. 

3  "  Concise  Natural  nistory  of  East  and  West  Florida,"  p.  97.    London,  1775. 


ABSENCE    OF   MORALITY.  C9 

the  river.  He  was  regarded  as  unworthy  to  remain 
upon  the  earth.  Among  the  Carolina  tribes  the  hus- 
band had  a  right  to  sell  his  wife.  He  changed  his 
wife  at  pleasure,  and  had  at  the  same  time  as  many 
wives  as  he  was  able  to  maintain.1 

Comparatively  little  virtue  existed  among  the  un- 
married women.  Their  chances  of  marriage  were  not 
diminished  but  rather  augmented  by  the  fact  that  they 
had  been  great  favorites,  provided  they  had  avoided 
conception  during  their  years  of  general  pleasure.  The 
husband  never  pretended  to  recognize  any  restraint  as 
imposed  by  the  marital  relation,  but  indulged  his  fan- 
cies as  inclination  prompted  or  opportunity  offered. 
The  wife,  on  the  contrary,  was  deterred,  by  fear  of  public 
punishment,  from  the  commission  of  indiscretions.  Al- 
though these  marriages  were  in  great  measure  tempo- 
rary in  their  character — constituting  alliances  of  fancy 
and  convenience — it  was  not  uncommon  for  parties  to 
live  together  until  extreme  old  age  in  comparative 
peace  and  affection.  By  the  side  of  the  aged  Mico 
Tomo-chi-chi,  as  thin  and  weak,  he  lies  upon  his  blan- 
ket, hourly  expecting  the  summons  of  the  pale-king, 
we  see  the  sorrowing  form  of  his  old  wife,  Scenauki, 
bending  over  and  fanning  him  with  a  bunch  of 
feathers.2 

In  all  verity  could  the  Indian  husband  say  of  his 
wife,  as  Petruchio  affirmed  of  Catherine  : 

"  I  will  be  master  of  what  is  mine  own  ; 
She  is  my  goods,  my  chattels ;  she  is  my  house, 
My  household  stuff,  my  field,  my  barn, 
My  horse,  my  ox,  my  ass,  my  anything." 

1  Lawson's  "History  of  Carolina,"  p.  187.     LondoD,  1*714. 

2  Wnitefield's  "Journal  at  Savannah,"  p.  2.  London,  1739.  "Historical  Sketch 
of  Tomo-chi-chi,"  by  Charles  C.  Jone?,  Jr.,  p.  107.     Albany,  1868. 


70  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE   SOUTHEAST   INDIANS. 

Doomed  to  perpetual  drudgery  and  to  tliat  subor- 
dinate position  to  which  woman  is  always  consigned 
where  civilization  and  religion  are  not,  she  was  little 
else  than  a  beast  of  burden,  busied  with  cooking,  the 
manufacture  of  pottery,  mats,  baskets,  moccasins  and 
tunics,  a  tiller  of  the  ground,  a  nurse  for  her  own 
children,  and  at  all  times  a  servant  to  the  commands 
and  passions  of  the  stronger  sex. 

Seldom  barren,  passing  with  great  ease  through  the 
perils  of  childbirth,  nourishing  her  offspring  from  her 
S^own  breasts,  and  permitting  the  child  to  suck  until  it 
was  well  grown,  with  her  own  hands  attending  to  every 
want  of  the  infant,  and  guarding  well  its  cleanliness  as 
it  lay  lashed  to  its  board  cradle,  it  came  to  pass  that 
the  Indian  mother  seldom  had  a  lame  or  deformed  or 
sickly  child.  At  an  early  age  the  boys  were  exercised 
in  running,  in  playing  ball,  and  in  the  use  of  the  bow 
and  arrow.  Prizes  were  offered  for  which  they  con- 
tended ;  and,  while  quite  young,  they  were  made  fami- 
liar with  the  secrets  of  hunting  and  fishing.1 

Protracted  ceremonies  involving  isolation,  fasting, 
purgation,  self-denial,  and  ablution,  were  religiously 
observed  under  the  personal  supervision  of  the  Is-te- 
puc-cau-chau-thluc-co,  or  great  leader,  before  the  Creek 
youth  was  admitted  to  the  dignity  and  privileges  of 
manhood.  Before  going  to  war  the  young  men  were 
compelled,  by  the  observance  of  certain  formalities  and 
prescribed  duties,  to  prepare  themselves  to  receive  the 
war-physic — a  charm  against  all  ills.2 

Of  the  costume  and  ornaments  of  the  Southern 


1  "  Brevis  Xarratio,"  plate  xxxvi. 

2  See  Hawkins's  ''Sketch  of  the  Creek  Confederacy."     Collections  of  the  Gt 
gia  Historical  Society,  vol.  Hi.,  part  1,  p.  IS.    Savannah,  1848. 


COSTUME    AND    OENAMENTS.  71 

Indians,  the  following  early  accounts  furnish  general 
descriptions : 

As  De  Soto  neared  Coca,  the  cacique  came  out  to 
receive  him  at  the  distance  of  two  cross-bow  shots 
from  the  town,  borne  in  a  litter  on  the  shoulders  of  his 
principal  men,  seated  on  a  cushion  and  covered  with  a 
mantle  of  marten-skins  of  the  size  and  shape  of  a  wom- 
an's shawl.  On  his  head  he  wore  a  diadem  of  plumes, 
and  he  was  surrounded  by  many  attendants  singing 
and  playing  upon  flutes. 

At  Quizquiz  the  great  caciqne  Aquisco,  accompa- 
nied by  two  hundred  canoes  filled  with  armed  men, 
waited  upon  him.  These  warriors  were  j)ainted  with 
ochre,  and  wore  great  bunches  of  white  and  colored 
plumes.  Standing  erect  in  the  canoes,  they  held  in 
their  hands  bows  and  arrows  and  also  feathered  shields 
with  which  they  sheltered  the  oarsmen  on  either  side. 
The  barge  conveying  the  cacique,  and  those  containing 
his  attendant  chiefs,  had  awnings  at  the  poop  under 
which  they  sat.  The  cacica  of  Cutifachique,  when  she 
came  out  of  her  town  to  cross  the  river  and  extend  to 
the  Adelantado  the  hospitalities  of  her  province,  was 
borne  to  the  water's  edge  in  a  chair.  There  she  en- 
tered her  canoe,  over  the  stern  of  which  was  spread  an 
awning.  A  mat  lay  extended  in  the  bottom,  and  above 
this  were  two  cushions  upon  which  she  sat.  In  the 
boats  which  escorted  her  was  carried  much  clothing;  of 
the  country,  consisting  of  shawls  and  skins.  These 
shawls  were  made,  some  from  the  bark  of  trees  and 
others  of  feathers,  white,  gray,  vermilion  and  yellow, 
rich  and  suitable  for  winter.  The  deer-skins  of  which 
moccasins,  leggings,  and  coverings  were  fabricated,  were 
well  dressed  and  ornamented  with  many-colored  de- 
signs.    The  cacica  wore  strings  of  pearls,  one  of  which 


72  ANTIQUITIES    OF    THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

she  threw  around  De  Soto's  neck,  exchanging  with 
him  "  many  gracious  words  of  friendship  and  cour- 
tesy."  ' 

Cabeca  de  Vaca  mentions  the  visit  of  an  Indian 
chief  clothed  in  a  painted  deer-skin,  and  borne  upon 
the  back  of  another  Indian.  Multitudes  of  his  people 
attended  him,  some  walking  in  advance  and  playing 
upon  reed  flutes.2 

In  plate  xxxvii.  of  the  "  Brevis  Narratio,"  we  have  a 
spirited  illustration  of  the  litter  in  which  the  chosen 
queen  is  being  conveyed  to  the  king.  The  mat,  the 
cushioned  seat,  the  canopy,  the  long  fans  of  feather, 
the  four  chair-bearers  with  the  rods  resting  upon  their 
shoulders,  and  forked  sticks  carried  in  the  hand  to 
serve  as  supports  to  the  litter  when  they  paused  to  re- 
fresh themselves  upon  the  journey — the  company  of 
musicians  marching  in  front,  playing  upon  reed  flutes, 
the  retinue  of  female  attendants  carrying  baskets  of 
fruits,  and  the  plumed  warriors  with  javelins  in  their 
hands  bringing  up  and  guarding  the  rear — are  all  rep- 
resented with  apparent  fidelity.3 

1  "  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto,"  translated  by  Buckingham 
Smith,  pp.  62,  15,  103.     New  York,  1866. 

2  "Relation,"  etc.,  translated  by  Buckingham  Smith,  p.  31.     New  York,  1871. 

3  The  explanatory  text  is  as  follows:  "Ducturus  uxorem,  Rex,  ex  nobiliorum 
puellarum  coetu,  pulcerrimam  maximamque  deligere  jubet :  deinde  duobus  validis 
longuriis  sede  aptata,  quae  rarioris  alicujus  animalis  pelle  tecta  est,  &  posteriore 
ejus  parte  ornata  ramis  superne  nutantibus,  ut  sedentis  caput  tegant,  Reginam 
delectam  sedi  imponentes,  longurios  sublevantquatuor  viri  robusti  &  humerissus- 
tinent,  singuli  ligneara  furcam  manu  gerentes,  ut  longuriis  subponant  quando  qui- 
escendum  est;  duo  alii  utrinque  ad  Regime  latera prcgrediuntur rotunda  umbracula 
elegantissime  confecta  in  oblongis  baculis  gestantes  ad  Reginam  a  Solis  ardoribus 
tuendam  :  prteunt  alii  tubas  ex  arboris  cortice  confectas  inflantes  superne  angustas, 
inferne  laxiores,  duobusque  dumtaxat  foraminibus,  supero  &  infero,  praeditae,  qui- 
bus  appensae  sunt  ovales  sphaerulae  aura?,  argentse,  aereae  ad  majorem  concentum. 
Pone  sequuntur  puellae  omnium  forrnosissimse,  eleganter  ornatae  torquibus  &  ar- 
millis  ex  margaritis,  singulae  canistrum  selectioribus  fructibus  plenum  manu  feren- 
tes,  &  sub  umbilicum  supraque  coxendices  cinctae  certarum  arborum  musco  ad 
obscaena  tegendum.     Eas  sequuntur  praetoriani." 


BLANKETS. SHAWLS. E0BES.  73 

The  use  of  this  primitive  palanquin  was  com- 
manded only  by  kings,  queens,  and  the  most  distin- 
guished personages,  and  seems  to  have  existed  chiefly 
among  the  Florida  tribes. 

AVhile  passing  through  what  would  now  be  known 
as  Middle  Georgia,  De  Soto  observed  blankets  among 
the  natives.  These,  says  the  Knight  of  Elvas,  re- 
sembled shawls.  Some  of  them  were  made  from  the 
inner  bark  of  trees,  and  others  of  a  grass '  resembling 
the  nettle,  which,  when  beaten,  becomes  like  flax. 

Women  used  them  for  a  covering,  wearing  one  about 
the  body  from  the  waist  downward,  and  another  over 
the  shoulder,  with  the  right  arm  free,  after  the  manner 
of  the  Gypsies.  The  men,  on  the  contrary,  wore  but 
one,  which  they  carried  over  the  shoulder  in  the  same 
way,  the  loins  being  covered  with  a  bragueiro  of  deer- 
skin, after  the  style  of  the  woollen  breech-cloth  once 
the  fashion  in  Spain.  'kThe  skins,"  continues  the  re- 
lator, "  are  well  dressed — the  color  being  given  to  them 
that  is  wished — and  in  such  perfection  that  when  of 
vermilion  they  look  like  very  fine  red  broadcloth  ; 
and  when  black — the  sort  in  use  for  shoes — they  are 
of  the  purest.    The  same  hues  are  given  to  blankets."  2 

Cabeca  de  Vaca3  describes  mantelets  of  thread 
with  which  the  women  partially  covered  their  persons. 

The  most  elaborate  robe  is  that  depicted  in  plate 
xxxix.  of  the  "  Brevis  Narratio,"  upon  the  person  of 
the  king  as  he  walks  abroad  attended  by  his  queen. 
This  is  said  to  have  been  made  of  the  skin  of  the  stag, 
elegantly  prepared  and  elaborately  ornamented  with 
various  colors.     It  is  confined  in  a  prominent  bow  or 

1  Evidently  the  reference  is  to  silk-grass,  so  common  in  this  region. 

2  "  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto,"  etc.,  translated  by  Buck- 
ingham Smith,  p.  53.     New  York,  1866. 

3  "  Relation,"  etc.,  translated  by  Buckingham  Smith,  p.  35.     New  York,  1871 . 


74  ANTIQUITIE3    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

knot  resting  on  the  top  of  the  right  shoulder,  and 
thence  falling  over  the  left  hip,  is  supported  behind 
by  a  train-bearer.  The  arms  and  legs  are  bare.  A  cap 
is  upon  the  king's  head  ;  his  ears  are  ornamented  with 
inflated  fish-bladders ;  his  elbows,  wrists,  and  knees, 
are  encircled  by  beads  of  shells  and  pearls,  while  from 
the  left  shoulder  depend  three  strings  of  beads  of  like 
material  reaching  down  as  far  as  the  right  hip,  cross- 
ing the  breast  and  stomach  transversely.  Aside  from 
her  necklace,  armlets,  and  anklets  of  pearls,  and  her 
ear-ornaments,  his  queen-consort  is  devoid  of  every 
covering:  save  the  female  breech-clout,  which  differed 
from  that  worn  by  the  men  in  that  it  encircled  the 
hips,  or  depended  from  one  shoulder,  passing  trans- 
versely below  the  navel  and  across  the  opposite  hip, 
thus  in  each  instance  covering  the  person  only  in  its 
most  secret  parts.  Made  of  moss,  it  was  jnore  flowing 
and  graceful  than  the  naked  flap  and  band  used  by 
the  men  to  conceal  their  privates. 

With  the  exception  of  these  breech-clouts,  the 
Florida  Indians,  most  of  the  year,  appeared  in  a  state 
of  nudity.  The  cold  of  winter  necessitated  the  use  of 
shawls  and  blankets,  to  which  reference  has  already 
been  made. 

The  warriors  wore  no  artificial  protection  *  for 
their  bodies,  but  contented  themselves  with  the  most 
fanciful  head-ornaments,  and  with  personal  decora- 
tions. So  painted  and  ochred  were  their  bodies,  legs, 
and  arms,  with  red,  black,  white,  yellow  and  vermilion 
stripes,  that,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Gentleman  of  Elvas, 
these  primitive  men-at-arms  appeared  to  have  on 
stockings    and    doublets.     Some   wore    feathers   and 

1  Captain  Smith  says  the  Virginia  warriors  carried  round  targets  made  of  the 
bark  of  trees.     "History  of  Virginia,"  vol.  i.,  p.  132.     Richmond,  1819. 


TATTOOING   AND    SKIN-PAINTING.  t  0 

others  horns  on  their  heads.  Their  faces  were  black- 
ened and  the  eyes  encircled  with  vermilion  to  heighten 
their  tierce  aspect.1 

Children  were  permitted  to  go  about  in  an  entirely 
nude  condition  until,  at  their  own  suggestion,  .hav- 
ing attained  the  age  of  puberty,  they  put  on  the 
breech-clout.  The  male  breech-clout  is  thus  described 
by  De  Bry :  "  Obsccenas  partes  tegunt  cervina  pelle 
eleganter  parata." 

The  custom  of  tattooing  existed.  "  Maxima  illo- 
rum  pars  corpus,  brachia,  femora  pingit  elegantibus  & 
concinnis  nguris  quarum  color  numquam  obliteratur: 
in  ipsa  enini  cute  sunt  impressae  notaa  sive  puncturse." 
Captain  Ribault's  account  of  the  attire  of  the  Florida 
Indians  is  as  follows :  "  The  most  part  of  them  cover 
their  reins  and  private  parts  with  fair  hart's  skinns, 
painted  most  commonly  with  sundry  colors ;  and  the 
fore-part  of  their  bodies  and  arms  be  painted  with 
jjretty  devised  works  of  azure,  red  and  black,  so  well 
and  so  properly,  that  the  best  painter  in  Europe  could 
not  amend  it.  The  women  have  their  bodies  paintett 
with  a  certain  herbe  like  unto  morse,  whereof  the 
cedar  trees,  and  all  other  trees,  be  always  covered. 
The  men  for  pleasure  do  always  twine  themselves 
therewith  after  sundry  fashions.  They  be  of  tawny 
color,  hawk-nosed,  and  of  a  pleasant  countenance."  a 

The  coast  Indians  are  represented  to  have  used  less 
covering  than  the  tribes  of  the  interior.  The  farther 
south  we  observe  them,  during  the  warm  months  of 
the  year,  the  more  scanty  seems  the  attire.     A  com- 

1  "Narratives  of  the  Career  of  De  Soto,"  etc.,  p.  99.  New  York,  1866.  Com- 
pare plate  xiv.,  "  Brevis  Narratio."     Francoforti  ad  Moenum,  De  Bry,  anno  1591. 

2  "  The  Whole  and  True  Discoverye  of  Terra  Florida,"  etc.,  written  in  Frenche 
by  Captaine  Ribaulde,  etc.,  and  now  newly  set  forth  in  the  English,  the  xxx  of 
May,  1563.     Prynted  at  London  by  Rowland  Hall,  for  Thomas  Ilackett. 


76  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

parison  of  the  plates  illustrative  of  the  "  Admiranda 
Narratio,"  with  those  contained  in  the  "  Brevis  Nar- 
ratio,"  confirms  this  assertion.  Even  kings  and  chief- 
men  among  the  Florida  tribes  mingled  with  their  head 
warriors  upon  occasions  of  state  and  general  delibera- 
tion, with  nothing  about  their  persons  save  the  wretched 
breech-clout.1  Among  the  common  people  even  this 
was  often  lacking. 

Of   the  vesture  of  the  Virginia    Indians  Hariot 
writes :  "  They  are  a  people  clothed  with  loose  mantles 

vmade  of  deere  skins,  <fe  aprons  of  the  same,  rounde 
about  their  middles ;  all  els  naked."  2  In  the  accom- 
panying plates  3  we  are  made  acquainted  with  the  dis- 
tinctive shapes  of  the  female  tunic,  the  priest's  cloak 
fashioned  of  quilted  rabbit-skins,  the  aprons  and  tu- 
nics worn  by  chiefs,  the  long  winter  garments  of  old 
men,  dressed  with  the  hair  on  and  lined  inside  with 
furs,  the  scanty  covering  of  the  conjurer,  and  the  small 
breech-clout .  of  the  boat-maker  and  fisherman.  The 
following  interesting  account  of  the  clothing  of  the 
Virginia  Indians  is  borrowed  from  that  valuable 
work,  "  The  True  Travels,  Adventures  and  Observa- 
tions of  Captaine  John  Smith : "  4  "  For  their  apparell 
they  are  sometimes  covered  with  the  skinnes  of  wilde 
beasts,  which  in  Winter  are  dressed  with  the  hayre, 

*  but  in  Summer  without.  The  better  sort  vse  large 
mantels  of  Deare  skins,  not  much  differing  in  fashion 
from  the  Irish  mantels.  Some  imbroidered  with  white 
beads,  some  with  Copper,  other  painted  after  their 
manner.     But  the  common  sort  haue  scarce  to  cover 

1  Plates  xi.,  xii.,  xvi.,  xviii.,  xxix.,  xxxiii.,  "  Brevis  Narratio." 

2  "  A  Briefe  and  True  Report  of  the  New-Found  Land  of  Virginia,"  etc.,  p.  24. 
Francoforti  ad  Moenum,  1590. 

3  iv.,  v.,  vi.,  viii.,  ix.,  xii.,  xiii.,  xvi.,  xviii. 
*  Richmond  reprint,  1819,  vol.  i.,  p.  129. 


ATTIEE    OF   VIRGINIA    INDIANS.  7< 

their  nakednesse  but  with  grasse,  the  leaues  of  trees 
or  such  like.  We  haue  seene  some  vse  mantels  made 
of  Turky  feathers,  so  prettily  wrought  and  woven 
with  threads,  that  nothing  could  he  discerned  but  the 
feathers.  That  was  exceeding  warme  and  very  hand- 
some. But  the  women  are  alwayes  covered  about  their 
middles  with  a  skin,  and  very  skamefast  to  be  seene 
bare.  They  adorne  themselues  most  with  copper  beads 
and  paintings.  Their  women,  some  haue  their  legs, 
hands,  breasts  and  face  cunningly  imbrodered  with 
divers  workes  as  beasts,  serpents,  artificially  wrought 
into  their  flesh  with  blacke  spots.  In  each  eare  com- 
monly they  haue  3  great  holes,  whereat  they  hang 
chaines,  bracelets,  or  copper.  Some  of  their  men  weare 
in  those  holes  a  small  greene  and  yellow  coloured 
snake,  neare  halfe  a  yard  in  length,  which,  crawling 
and  lapping  her  selfe  about  his  necke,  oftentimes  famil- 
iarly would  kisse  his  lips.  Others  weare  a  dead  Rat 
tyed  by  the  taile.  Some  on  their  heads  weare  the 
wing  of  a  bird  or  some  large  feather  with  a  Rat- 
tell.  Those  Rattels  are  somewhat  like  the  chape  of  a 
Rapier,  but  lesse,  which  they  take  from  the  taile  of  a 
snake.  Many  haue  the  whole  skinne  of  a  Hawke  or 
some  strange  foule,  stuffed  with  the  wings  abroad. 
Others  a  broad  peece  of  Copper,  and  some  the  hand  of 
their  enemy  dryed.  Their  heads  and  shoulders  are 
painted  red  with  the  roote  Pocone  brayed  to  powder, 
mixed  with  oyle,  this  they  hold  in  sommer  to  preserue 
them  from  the  heate,  and  in  winter  from  the  cold. 
Many  other  formes  of  paintings  they  vse,  but  he  is  the 
most  gallant  that  is  the  most  monstrous  to  behold." 

The  shoes  of  the  natives  were  made  of  buckskin, 
reinforced  at  the  bottom.  They  were  fastened  on  with 
running  strings,  the  skin  being  drawn  together  like 


78  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

a  purse,  on  the  top  of  the  foot,  and  tied  round  the 
ankle.1 

During  the  summer  the  Louisiana  Indians  wore 
but  little  clothing — that  of  the  men  consisting  of  a 
small  apron  of  deer-skin  dressed  white  or  dyed  black, 
the  latter  color  being  reserved  exclusively  for  the 
chiefs.  The  cloaks  of  the  women  were  made  of  the 
bark  of  the  mulberry-tree,  or  of  the  feathers  of  swans, 
turkeys,  and  ducks.  The  bark  of  young  mulberry, 
shoots  was  first  dried  in  the  sun,  and  then  beaten  so  as 
to  cause  all  the  woody  parts  to  fall  off.  The  remaining 
threads  were  then  beaten  a  second  time,  and  bleached 
by  exposure  to  the  dew.  When  well  whitened,  they 
were  spun  or  twisted  into  thread.  Garments  were 
woven  in  the  following  manner.  Two  stakes  were 
planted  in  the  ground  about  a  yard  and  a  half  apart. 
A  cord  was  then  stretched  from  the  one  to  the  other, 
to  which  were  fastened  double  threads  of  bark.  By 
hand  other  threads  were  curiously  interwoven,  so  as  in 
the  end  to  form  a  cloak  about  a  yard  square,  with 
wrought  borders  round  the  edges. 

Young  boys  and  girls  went  quite  naked.  At  the 
age  of  eight  or  ten  years  the  girls  put  on  a  little 
fringed  petticoat  made  of  threads  of  mulberry-bark. 
The  boys  remained  uncovered  until  they  attained  a 
similar  ao;e. 

"Some  women,"  says  Du  Pratz,2  "even  in  hot 
weather,  have  a  small  cloak  wrapt  round  like  a  waist- 
coat ;  but  when  the  cold  sets  in  they  wear  a  second, 
the  middle  of  which  passes  under  the  right  arm,  and 
the  two  ends  are  fastened  over  the  left  shoulder,  so 

1  Beverly's  "  History  and  Present  State  of  Virginia,"  book  Hi.,  chap,  i.,  p.  3- 
London,  1705. 

2  "History  of  Louisiana,"  etc.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  231.     London,  1763. 


DEESS    OF   LOUISIANA    INDIANS.  79 

that  the  two  arms  are  at  liberty  and  one  of  the  breasts 
is.  covered.  They  wear  nothing  on  their  heads ;  their 
hair  is  suffered  to  grow  to  its  full  length,  except  in  the 
fore-part,  and  it  is  tied  in  a  cue  behind  in  a  kind  of 
net  made  of  mulberry  threads.  They  carefully  pick 
out  all  the  hairs  that  grow  upon  any  part  of  their 
body." 

The  shoes  of  the  men  and  women  were  fashioned 
after  the  same  pattern,  and  were  seldom  worn  except 
upon  a  journey.  They  were  made  of  deer-skin,  the 
sole  and  upper  leather  being  of  the  same  piece,  and 
sewed  together  on  the  upper  part  of  the  foot.  The 
moccasin  was  cut  about  three  inches  longer  than  the 
foot,  and  folded  over  the  toes.  The  quarters  were 
about  nine  inches  high,  and  fastened  round  the  les:  like 
a  buskin.  Ear-rings  of  shell,  and  necklaces  "com- 
posed of  several  strings  of  longish  or  roundish  kernel- 
stones,  somewhat  resembling  porcelaine,"  formed  the 
customary  female  ornaments.  With  the  smallest  of 
these  "  kernel-stones  "  they  decorated  their  furs,  gar- 
ters, and  shoes.  In  early  youth,  females  were  tattooed 
across  the  nose  and  often  down  the  middle  of  the  chin. 
Some  were  pricked  all  over  the  upper  part  of  the 
body,  not  excepting  from  the  operation  even  their  sen- 
sitive breasts. 

During  the  winter  the  men  covered  themselves 
with  a  shirt  made  of  two  dressed  deer-skins,  and  wore 
breeches  of  the  same  material,  which  protected  the 
legs.  In  severe  weather  a  buffalo-skin,  dressed  with 
the  wool  on,  was  kept  next  the  body  to  increase  the 
warmth. 

The  young  men  were  very  fond  of  dress,  vying 
with  each  other  in  the  decorations  upon  their  vest- 
ments, painting  themselves  profusely  with  vermilion, 


* 


80  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN  INDIANS. 

wearing  bracelets  of  the  ribs  of  deer — softened  in 
boiling  water,  then  bent  into  the.  required  shape,  and 
finally  polished  so  that  they  resembled  ivory — fan- 
cying necklaces  like  the  women,  carrying  fans  in 
their  hands,  clipping  off  the  hair  from  the  crowns  of 
their  heads  and  substituting  a  piece  of  swan's-skin 
with  the  down  upon  it,  fastening  the  finest  white 
feathers  to  the  hairs  which  remained,  and  suffering 
a  part  of  their  hair  to  grow  long,  so  that  they  could 
weave  it  into  a  cue  hanging  over  the  left  ear.  Such  is 
the  portrait  which  has  been  preserved  of  the  Louisiana 
youthful  swells,  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago. 

Warriors  who  had  rendered  themselves  famous  by 
some  gallant  exploit,  caused  a  tomahawk  to  be  pricked 
on  the  left  shoulder.  Underneath  was  indelibly  im- 
printed the  hieroglyphic  sign  of  the  conquered  nation. 
The  figure  intended  to  be  pricked  was  first  drawn  on 
the  skin,  which  was  then  punctured  to  the  depth  of 
the  tenth  of  an  inch,  and  powdered  charcoal  rubbed  in. 
Marks  thus  caused  were  never  effaced.  Ear-rings  were 
worn  by  the  men ;  and,  fastened  to  their  belts,  might 
be  seen  gourds  with  pebbles  in  them. 

The  chief  ornament  of  the  king  was  a  crown  of 
feathers  surmounting  a  black  bonnet  of  net- work  fast- 
ened to  a  red  diadem,  about  two  inches  broad,  em- 
broidered with  kernel-stones.  The  feathers  were 
white,  about  ekdit  inches  tall  in  front  and  half  as  hio;h 
behind.  The  women  fabricated  girdles,  garters,  and 
collars  for  carrying  burdens.  They  also  embroidered 
with  porcupine-feathers. 

Of  the  habit  of  the  North  Carolina  Indians,  Mr. 
Lawson *  writes :  The  winter  dress  of  the  women  is  "  a 
hairy  Match-coat  in  the  nature  of  a  Plad.  .  .  At  other 

1  "History  of  Carolina,"  etc.,  p.  190.     London,  1714. 


ATTIRE    OF    CAROLINA    INDIANS.  81 

times  they  have  only  a  sort  of  Flap  or  Apron  contain- 
ing two  Yards  in  Length  and  better  than  half  a  Yard 
deep.  Sometimes  it  is  a  Deer-Skin  dress'd  white,  and 
pointed  or  slit  at  the  bottom,  like  Fringe.  When  this 
is  clean,  it  becomes  them  very  well.  .  .  . 

"All  of  them,  when  ripe,  have  a  small  String  round 
the  Waste,  to  which  another  is  tied  and  comes  between 
their  Legs,  where  always  is  a  Wad  of  Moss  against  the 
Os  pubis /  but  never  any  Hair  is  there  to  be  found. 
Sometimes  they  wear  Indian  Shooes  or  Moggizons, 
which  are  made  after  the  same  manner  as  the  Mens  are. 

"  The  Hair  of  their  Heads  is  made  into  a  long  Roll 
like  a  Horses  Tail,  and  bound  round  with  Ronoak  or 
Porcelan  which  is  a  sort  of  Beads  they  make  of  the 
Conk-Shells.  Others  that  have  not  this,  make  a  Leather- 
String  serve.  The  Indian  Men  have  a  Match-coat  of 
Hair,  Furs,  Feathers,  or  Cloth,  as  the  Women  have. 
Their  Hair  is  roll'd  up  on  each  Ear,  as  the  Womens, 
only  much  shorter,  and  oftentimes  a  Roll  on  the  Crown 
of  the  Head  or  Temples,  which  is  just  as  they  fancy; 
there  being  no  Strictness  in  their  Dress.  Betwixt  their 
Legs  comes  a  Piece  of  Cloth,1  that  is  tuck'd  in  by  a 
Belt  both  before  and  behind.  This  is  to  hide  their 
Nakedness.  .  .  .  They  wear  Shooes  of  Bucks,  and  some- 
times Bears  Skin,  which  they  tan  in  an  Hour  or  two, 
with  the  Bark  of  Trees  boil'd,  wherein  they  put  the 
Leather  whilst  hot,  and  let  it  remain  a  little  while, 
whereby  it  becomes  so  qualify'd  as  to  endure  Water 
and  Dirt  without  growing  hard.  These  have  no  Heels, 
and  are  made  as  fit  for  the  Feet,  as  a  Glove  is  for  the 
Hand,  and  are  very  easie  to  travel  in  when  one  is  a  lit- 
tle us'd  to  them.  .  .  .  Their  Feather, Match-coats  are 
very  pretty,  especially  some  of  them  which  are  made  ex- 

1  Or  wad  of  moss.     Law? on,  p.  203. 


82  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

traordinary  charming,  containing  several  pretty  Figures 
wrought  in  Feathers,  making  them  seem  like  a  fine 
Flower  Silk-Shag ;  and  when  new  and  fresh,  they  "be- 
come a  Bed  very  well,  instead  of  a  Quilt.  Some  of 
another  sort  are  made  of  Hare,  Raccoon,  Bever  or  Squir- 
rel-Skins, which  are  very  warm.  Others  again  are 
made  of  the  green  Part  of  the  Skin  of  a  Mallard's  Head, 
which  they  sew  perfectly  well  together,  their  Thread 
being  either  the  Sinews  of  a  Deer  divided  very  small, 
or  Silk-Grass.  When  these  are  finish'd  they  look  very 
finely,  though  they  must  needs  be  very  troublesome  to 
make.  .  .  .  Their  Dress  in  Peace  and  War  is  quite  dif- 
ferent. Besides,  when  they  go  to  War,  their  Hair  is 
comb'd  out  by  the  Women,  and  done  over  very  much 
with  Bears  Grease  and  red  Root ;  with  Feathers, 
Wings,  Rings,  Copper  and  Peak  or  Wampum  in  their 
Ears.  Moreover,  they  buy  Vermillion  of  the  Indian 
Traders,  wherewith  they  paint  their  Faces  all  over  red, 
and  commonly  make  a  Circle  of  Black  about  one  Eye, 
and  another  Circle  of  White  about  the  other,  whilst 
others  bedawb  their  Faces  with  Tobacco-Pipe  Clay, 
Lamp-black,  black  Lead  and  divers  other  Colours  which 
they  make  with  the  several  sorts  of  Minerals  and  Earths 
that  they  get  in  different  Parts  of  the  Country  where 
they  hunt  and  travel.  When  these  Creatures  are  thus 
painted,  they  make  the  most  frightful  Figures  that  can 
be  imitated  by  Men,  and  seem  more  like  Devils  than 
Humane  Creatures.  You  may  be  sure  that  they  are 
about  some  Mischief,  when  you  see  them  thus  painted  ; 
for  in  all  the  Hostilities  which  have  ever  been  acted 
against  the  English  at  any  time,  in  several  of  the  Plan- 
tations of  America,  the  Savages  always  appear' d  in  this 
Disguize,  wThereby  they  might  never  after  be  discover' d 
or  known  by  any  of  the  Christians  that  should  happen 


ORNAMENTS    OF    CAROLINA    INDIANS.  83 

to  see  them  after  they  had  made  their  Escape  ;  for  it  is 
impossible  ever  to  know  an  Indian  under  these  Colours, 
although  he  has  been  at  your  House  a  thousand  times, 
and  you  know  him  at  other  times  as  well  as  you  do 
any  Person  living.  As  for  their  Women,  they  never 
use  any  Paint  on  their  Faces.  .  .  . 

"  Some  of  the  Indians  wear  great  Bobs  in  their 
Ears,  and  sometimes  in  the  Holes  thereof  they  put 
Eagles  and  other  Birds  Feathers  for  a  Trophy.  When 
they  kill  any  Fowl,  they  commonly  pluck  off  the 
downy  Feathers  and  stick  them  all  over  their  Heads. 
Some  (both  Men  and  Women)  wear  great  Necklaces  of 
their  Money,  made  of  Shells.  .  .  .  They  oftentimes 
make  of  this  Shell  a  sort  of  Gorge,  which  they  wear 
about  their  Neck  in  a  String ;  so  it  hangs  on  their  Col- 
lar, whereon  sometimes  is  engraven  a  Cross,  or  some 
odd  sort  of  Figure  which  comes  next  in  their  Fancy." ' 

De  Brahni2  asserts  that  the  South  Carolina  tribes, 
about  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  had,  among 
themselves,  no  distinction  of  dress.  They  painted 
their  faces  red  in  token  of  friendship,  and  black,  in 
expression  of  warlike  intentions.  In  common  with 
their  more  northern  and  southern  neighbors  they  or- 
namented their  hair,  ears,  and  necks  with  feathers, 
bobs  and  beads,  wore  mantles  and  breech-cloths,  and 
used  leather  macksins.  "  Their  cloathing,"  says  Thom- 
as Ash,  consists  of  the  "  Skins  of  the  Bear  and  Deer, 
the  Skin  drest  after  their  Country  Fashion,  sometimes 
with  black  and  red  Chequers  coloured." s 

Captain  Bernard  Komans  observed  cloth  made  out 

1  Compare  "Natural  History  of  North  Carolina,"  etc.,  by  the  wonderful  plagia- 
rist, John  Brickell,  M.  D.,  p.  312,  et  seq.     Dublin,  1737. 

2  "  Documents  connected  with  the  History  of  South  Carolina,"  edited  by  Plow- 
den  Charles  Jennett  Weston,  p.  220.     London,  1856. 

3  "  Carolina,"  etc.,  by  T.  A.—,  Gent.,  p.  35.     Loudon,  1682. 


84  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

of  the  bark  of  a  species  of  Morns,  the  root  of  the 
tree  being  used  to  dye  it  yellow.  "  Buffaloe's  wool," 
he  adds,  "  furnishes  a  material  for  a  useful  manufac- 
ture. They  likewise  make  blankets  and  other  cover- 
ings out  of  the  feathers  of  the  breasts  of  wild  turkies  by 
a  process  similar  to  that  of  our  wig-makers  when  they 
knit  hair  together  for  the  purpose  of  making  wigs. "  ' 
During  the  spring  of  1811,  embedded  in  the  flooring 
of  a  copperas  cave,  in  Warren  County,  West  Tennessee, 
two  human  bodies — the  one  male  and  the  other  female 
— were  found.  They  were  evidently  Indians,  and  had 
been  interred  in  curiously-wrought  baskets  made  of 
cane,  with  coverings  of  the  same  material  fitting  over 
their  tops.  "  The  flesh  of  these  persons,"  says  Mr.  Hay- 
wood,2 "  was  entire  and  undecayed,  of  a  brown,  dry- 
ish colour  produced  by  time,  the  flesh  having  adhered 
closely  to  the  bones  and  sinews.  Around  the  female, 
next  her  body,  was  placed  a  well-dressed  deer  skin. 
Next  to  this  was  placed  a  rug,  very  curiously  wrought, 
of  the  bark  of  a  tree  and  feathers.  The  bark  seemed 
to  have  been  formed  of  small  strands,  well  twisted. 
Around  each  of  these  strands  feathers  wTere  rolled, 
and  the  whole  woven  into  a  cloth  of  firm  texture  after 
the  manner  of  our  common  coarse  fabrics.  This  rug 
was  about  three  feet  wide  and  between  six  and  seven 
feet  in  length.  The  whole  of  the  ligaments  thus 
framed  of  bark  were  completely  covered  by  the  feath- 
ers, forming  a  body  of  about  one-eighth  of  an  inch  in 
thickness,  the  feathers  extending  about  one-quarter  of 
an  inch  in  length  from  the  strand  to  which  they  were 
confined.     The  appearance  was  highly  diversified  by 

1  "  A  Concise  Natural  History  of  East  and  West  Florida,"  p.  85.     New  York, 
1775. 

2  "Natural  and  Aboriginal  History  of  Tennessee,"  p.  164.     Nashville,  1823. 


HUM  AX    BODIES    IN    A    CAVE    IN    TENNESSEE.  85 

green,  blue,  yellow  and  black,  presenting  different 
shades  of  color  when  reflected  upon  by  the  light  in  dif- 
ferent positions.  The  next  covering  was  an  undressed 
deer  skin,  around  which  was  rolled,  in  good  order,  a 
plain  shroud  manufactured  after  the  same  order  as 
the  one  ornamented  with  feathers.  This  article  re- 
sembled very  much  in  its  texture  the  bags  generally 
used  for  the  purpose  of  holding  coffee  exported  from 
the  Havanna  to  the  United  States.  The  female  had  in 
her  hand  a  fan  formed  of  the  tad  feathers  of  a  turkey. 
The  points  of  these  feathers  were  curiously  bound  by 
a  buckskin  string,  well  dressed,  and  were  thus  closely 
bound  for  about  one  inch  from  the  points.  About 
three  inches  from  the  point  they  were  again  bound  by 
another  deer  skin  string,  in  such  a  manner  that  the  fan 
might  be  closed  and  expanded  at  pleasure.  Between 
the  feathers  and  this  last  binding  by  the  string,  were 
placed,  around  each  feather,  hairs  which  seem  to  have 
been  taken  from  the  tail  of  a  deer.  This  hair  was 
dyed  of  a  deep  scarlet  red,  and  was  one-third,  at  least, 
longer  than  the  hairs  of  deer's  tail  in  this  climate  2;en- 
erally  are. 

The  male  was  interred  sitting  in  a  basket,  after  the 
same  manner  as  the  former,  with  this  exception,  that 
he  had  no  feathered  rug,  neither  had  he  a  fan  in 
his  hand.  The  hair,  which  still  remained  on  their 
heads,  was  entire.  That  of  the  female  was  of  .a_y_el- 
low  cast,  and  of  a  very  fine  texture.  .  .  .  The  fe- 
male was,  when  she  deceased,  of  about  the  age  of 
fourteen.  The  male  was  somewhat  younger.  The 
cave  in  which  they  were  found  abounded  in  nitre, 
copperas,  alum  and  salts.  The  whole  of  this  covering, 
with  the  baskets,  was  perfectly  sound,  without  any 
marks  of  decay." 


bo  ANTIQUITIES    0^   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

Thus  have  the  conserving  properties  of  the  dust  of 
this  cave  guarded  from  disintegration  not  only  the 
forms,  but  even  the  clothing  of  these  primitive  peo- 
ples, offering  them  almost  unchanged  for  the  inspec- 
tion of  a  later  and  not  incurious  age,  placing  in  our 
hands  the  fabrics  they  wove,  the  skins  they  dressed, 
the  colors  and  fans  in  which  they  delighted,  and 
affording  physical  confirmation  of  the  fidelity  of  at 
least  some  of  the  accounts  furnished  by  the  early  ob- 
servers. 

Referring  to  the  tribes  then  occupying  the  territory 
granted  to  the  colony  of  Georgia,  Mr.  Oglethorpe, 
shortly  after  the  settlement  of  Savannah,  declares  that 
"they,  as  the  ancient  Germans  did,  anoint  with  oil  and 
expose  themselves  to  the  sun,  which  occasions  their 
skins  to  be  brown  of  color.  The  men  paint  them- 
selves of  various  colors,  red,  blue,  yellow  and  black. 
The  men  wear  generally  a  girdle  with  a  piece  of  cloth 
drawn  through  their  legs  and  turned  over  the  girdle 
both  before  and  behind,  so  as  to  hide  their  nakedness. 
The  women  wear  a  kind  of  petticoat  to  the  knees. 
Both  men  and  women  in  the  winter  wear  mantles 
something  less  than  two  yards  square,  which  they 
wrap  round  their  bodies  as  the  Romans  did  their  toga, 
generally  keeping  their  arms  bare ;  they  are  sometimes 
of  woollen  bought  of  the  English,  sometimes  of  furs 
which  they  dress  themselves.  They  wear  a  kind  of 
pumps  which  they  call  moccasins,  made  of  deer  skin, 
which  they  dress  for  that  purpose."  ' 

"  Formerly,"  says  Adair,2  "  the  Indians  made  very 
handsome  carpets.  They  have  a  wild  hemp  that 
grows  about  six  feet  high  in  open,  rich,  level  lands, 

1  Salmon's  "Modern  History,"  fourth  edition,  vol.  ill.,  p.  770. 
"  History  of  the  American  Indians,"  p.  422.     London,  1775. 


SPINNING    AND    WEAVING.  87 

and  wliicli  usually  ripens  in  July ;  it  is  plenty  on  our 
frontier  settlements.  When  it  is  fit  for  use,  they  pull, 
steep,  peel  and  beat  it ;  and  the  old  women  spin  it  off 
the  distaffs  with  wooden  machines,  having  some  clay 
on  the  middle  of  them  to  hasten  the  motion.  When 
the  coarse  thread  is  prepared,  they  put  it  into  a  frame 
about  six  feet  square,  and,  instead  of  a  shuttle,  they 
thrust  through  the  thread  with  a  long  cane,  having  a 
large  string  through  the  web,  which  they  shift  at 
eveiy  second  course  of  the  thread.  When  they  have 
thus  finished  their  arduous  labour,  they  paint  each 
side  of  the  carpet  with  such  figures  of  various  colours 
as  their  fruitful  imaginations  devise ;  particularly  the 
images  of  those  birds  and  beasts  they  are  acquainted 
with  ;  and  likewis  eof  themselves,  acting  in  their  social 
and  martial  stations."  He  was  informed  that  the 
Muscogees,  time  out  of  mind,  passed  the  woof  with  a 
shuttle,  "  having  a  couple  of  threddles  which  they 
move  with  the  hand  so  as  to  enable  them  to  make 
good  dispatch,  something  after  our  manner  of  weav- 
ing." The  women  were  the  manufacturers  of  these 
fabrics.  Buffalo's  wool  was  extensively  used  for  spin- 
ning and  weaving.  The  Choctaws  made  "turkey- 
feather  blankets  with  the  long  feathers  of  the  neck 
and  breast  of  that  large  fowl."  The  inner  end  of  the 
feather  was  twisted  and  made  fast  in  a  strong  double 
thread  of  hemp  or  coarse  twine  made  of  the  inner 
bark  of  the  mulberry-tree.  These  threads  were  then 
worked  together  after  the  manner  of  a  fine  netting. 
The  long  and  glittering  feathers  imparted  to  the  out- 
side of  the  blanket  a  pleasing  appearance.  Such  fab- 
rics were  quite  warm.     This  writer  also  confirms  the 


88  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

use  of  breech-cloths,  short  petticoats,  moccasins,  and 
head-ornaments  of  feathers.1 

Various  clays,  and  the  juices  of  roots,  barks,  berries 
and  plants,  were  employed  in  painting  their  persons 
and  dyeing  their  manufactures.  Tassels  of  the  hair  of 
deer,  colored  red,  were  held  in  special  esteem.2 

Not  only  were  the  ears  slit  for  the  reception  of  in- 
flated bladders,  eagles'  claws,  feathers  and  various 
ornamental  pendants,  but  in  some  instances  the  nip- 
ples and  under  lips  were  bored  so  that  canes  and  other 
matters  for  personal  adornment  might  be  introduced 
and  worn.3  The  nose  was  perforated  to  admit  of  the 
suspension  of  ornaments  from  the  cartilaginous  wall 
which  separates  the  nostrils.  It  would  appear  that 
lip-stones  (called  by  the  Spanish  bezote  and  by  the 
Mexicans  teutetT)  were  worn,  at  least  to  a  limited 
extent. 

Without  multiplying  these  references,  we  are  suffi- 
ciently assured  of  the  fact  that,  in  the  ornamentation 
of  their  skins,  in  the  manufacture  of  shell,  stone,  bone, 
S^wood,  hair,  and  feather  pendants,  and  in  the  fabrica- 
tion of  skin  garments  fringed  and  curiously  colored, 
and  of  carpets  and  shawls  made  of  fibre  and  feathers,  a 
marked  similarity  existed  among  the  Southern  tribes. 
It  is  also  evident  that  the  manner  of  wearing  these 
articles  of  clothing  and  of  personal  adornment  was,  in 
its  general  features,  common  to  them  all.  We  per- 
ceive that  these  Indians  had  advanced  beyond  that 
rudest  stage  when  the  undressed  hide — stripped  from 
the  body  of  the  slain  wild  animal  and  thrown  around 

1  Compare   "  Bartram's  Travels,"  pp.   499-502.    London,  1792.      Hennepin's 
"  Continuation  of  the  New  Discovery,"  p.  79.     London,  1698. 

2  "  Relation  of  Cabeca  de  Vaca,"  p.  86.     New  York,  1871. 
8  Ibid.,  pp.  75-78.     New  York,  1871. 


EUROPEAN   FABRICS    EAGERLY    SOUGHT.  SU 

the  shoulders — constituted  the  only  protection  against 
the  inclement  seasons,  and  that,  in  the  manufacture  of 
their  feather  coverings  and  in  the  decoration  of  their 
persons  and  garments,  considerable  taste  was  some- 
times exhibited. 

At  an  early  period,  the  natives  recognized  the 
superiority  of  the  European  commodities,  and  eagerly 
exchanged  their  coarse  fabrics  for  the  strouds,  blan- 
kets and  trinkets  exhibited  by  the  white  traders. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Music    and   Musical   Instruments. — Dancing. — Games.— Gambling. — Festivals. — 
Divisions  of  the  Year. — Counting. — Funeral  Customs. 

The   Southern   Indians   were    much    addicted   to 

GAMES,    DIVEESIONS,    FESTIVALS,    and    DANCING.       It    has 

been  quaintly  remarked  that  man  is  the  only  animal 
that  laughs,  and  we  find  in  all  ages,  and  among  all 
peoples,  how  limited  soever  their  resources,  or  narrow 
their  avenues  to  pleasure,  special  attention  has  ever 
-  /"been  paid  to  the  subject  of  pastimes  and  amusements. 
During  periods  when  the  physical  development  and 
active  training  of  the  human  body  were  eminently  ne- 
cessary for  individual  protection,  subsistence,  and  a 
toleration  of  the  dangers  and  privations  incident  to  the 
precarious  and  exposed  mode  of  life,  the  games  in  vogue 
were  decidedly  muscular  in  their  character,  and  were 
conducted  in  the  open  air.  On  occasions  of  feasting 
and  dancing,  the  music,  both  instrumental  and  vocal, 
was  of  that  simple,  primitive  kind,  adapted  to  mark  the 
time  required  for  the  saltatory  movements  in  which 
the  performers  indulged.  Measured  sounds  there  were, 
but  melody  and  harmony  were  wanting.  The  cane 
flute,  the  drum  and  the  rattle,  constituted  the  principal 
musical  instruments   in  vogue   among   the   Southern 


MUSIC    AXD    MUSICAL    LNSTEUMENT3.  1)1 

tribes.  The  form  of  the  decorated  reed-flute  or  recorder  * 
has  been  preserved  for  our  information,  and  we  are  also 
familiar  with  the  shape  of  the  hand-rattle.2  "  For  their 
musicke,"  says  Captain  John  Smith,3  "  they  vse  a  thicke 
Cane  on  which  they  pipe  as  on  a  Recorder.  For  their 
warres  they  haue  a  great  deepe  platter  of  wood.  They 
cover  the  mouth  thereof  with  a  skin,  at  each  corner 
they  tie  a  walnut,  which  meeting  on  the  backside  neere 

.  the  bottome,  with  a  small  rope  they  twitch  them  to- 
gether till  it  be  so  taught  and  stiffe,  that  they  may  beat 
vpon  it  as  vpon  a  drumme.  But  their  chiefe  instru- 
ments are  Rattles  made  of  small  gourds  or  Pumpeon's 
shels.  Of  these  they  haue  Base,  Tenor,  Countertenor, 
Meane  and  Treble.  These,  mingled  with  their  voyces 
sometimes  twenty  or  thirtie  together,  make  such  a  ter- 
rible noise  as  would  rather  affright  then  delight  any 
man."     Mr.  Bartram 4  asserts  that  the  Southern  Indians 

^  were  all  fond  of  music  and  dancing,  the  music  being 
both  vocal  and  instrumental.  Among  the  musical  instru- 
ments he  enumerates  the  tambour,  the  rattle-gourd,  and 
a  kind  of  flute  made  of  the  joint  of  a  reed,  or  of  a  deer's 
tibia.  The  last  he  pronounces  a  howling  instrument, 
producing,  instead  of  harmony,  "  a  hideous,  melancholy 
discord."  With  the  tambour  and  rattle,  however,  ac- 
companied by  sweet,  low  voices,  he  confesses  himself 
well  pleased.  These  gourd-rattles  contained  corn, 
beans,  or  small  pebble?,  and  were  shaken  by  hand  or 
struck  against  the  ornamental  posts  which  marked  the 
dancing-ring,  in  exact  time  with  the  movements  of  the 
performers.     Large  earthen  pots,  tightly  covered s  with 

1  "  Brevis  Xarratio,"  plate  xxxvii.  2  "  AdinirandaXarratio,"  plate  xviii. 

3  "True  Travels,"  etc.,  vol.  i.,  p.  136.     Richmond  reprint,  1819. 

4  "  Travels,"  etc.,  p.  502.     London,  1792. 

6  Biickell's  "Xatural  History  of  North  Carolina,"  p.  328.  Dublin,  1*737. 
Beverly  says  that  these  earthen  drums  were  half-full  of  water.  "  History  of  Vir 
ginia,"  book  III.,  p  55.     London,  1705  / 


92  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEKN   INDIANS. 

dressed  deer-skins,  answered  as  drums.  The  shells  of 
terrapins  were  also  fastened  to  the  ankles  or  suspended 
from  the  waist-belts.  These  being  partially  filled  with 
small  stones  or  beans,  with  every  motion  of  the  body, 
gave  utterance  to  rattling  sounds.  The  leather  stock- 
ings of  the  young  dancing-women  of  the  Creeks  were 
"  hung  full  of  the  hoofs  of  the  roe-deer,  in  form  of  bells, 
in  so  much  as  to  make  them  sound  exactly  like  casta- 
gnettes." 

Captain  Romans  counted  four  hundred  and  ninety- 
three  of  these  horn-bells  attached  to  one  pair  of  stock- 
ings. Nine  women,  whose  hose  were  similarly  fur- 
nished, were  present  at  the  dance.  Allowing  the  same 
number  of  these  tinkling  ornaments  to  each,  we  will 
perceive,  by  easy  calculation,  that  one  thousand  one 
hundred  and  ten  deer  must  have  been  killed  to  furnish 
these  women  with  their  dancing-bells.  These  musical 
instruments  were  supplemented  by  voices  plaintive  or 
vehement,  slow  or  rapid,  as  best  accorded  with  the 
character  of  the  dance.  Their  songs,  whether  of  war 
or  devotion,  harvest  or  hunting,  consisted  of  but  few 
words  and  scanty  intonations,  repeated  in  the  most 
monotonous  way.  When  we  turn  to  the  music  and 
poetry  of  these  peoples,  we  enter  indeed  upon  a  barren 
field,  with  scarcely  any  thing  to  provoke  inquiry  or  re- 
ward investigation. 

In  the  vicinity  of  the  village  was  a  spot  specially 
prepared  for  and  devoted  to  the  dance.  Here  a  fire 
was  nightly  kindled,  and  all  who  had  a  mind  to  be 
merry,  assembled  each  evening.1 

In  plate  xviii.  of  the  "  Briefe  and  True  Keport  of 
the  New-found  Land  of  Virginia,  made  into  English  by 
Thomas  Hariot,"  we  have  a  lively  representation  of  a 

"Admirandi  Xarratio,''  plate  xx. 


DANCING.  93 

public  dance — the  occasion  a  great  and  solemn  feast,  to 
which  the  inhabitants  of  neighboring  towns  had  been 
invited — the  place,  a  level  spot  in  the  midst  of  a  broad 
plain,  circular  in  shape,  about  which  are  planted  in  the 
ground  posts  "  carued  with  heads  like  to  the  faces  of 
nonnes  couered  with  the}T  vayles,"  the  centre  being 
occupied  by  "  three  of  the  fayrest  Virgins  of  the  coni- 
panie,  which,  imbrassinge  one  another,  doe,  as  yt  wear, 
turne  abowt  in  their  dancinge."  Around  these,  and 
following  the  line  of  the  posts,  fancifully  attired  and 
bearing  in  their  hands  the  branches  of  trees  and  gourd- 
rattles,  with  which  they  keep  time  by  striking  them 
against  the  posts,  are  wildly  singing  and  dancing,  in 
the  cool  of  the  evening,  the  natives  assembled  for  the 
celebration  of  this  "  solemne  feaste." 

Many  of  these  dances  were  of  a  purely  social  char- 
acter, and  were  participated  in  every  night  by  way  of 
amusement.  Others  were  designed,  by  violent  exer- 
cise, to  prepare  the  actors  "  to  endure  fatigue,  and  im- 
prove their  wind."  '  Others  still  were  had  in  com. 
memoration  of  war,  of  peace  and  of  hunting ;  others 
in  the  early  spring  when  the  seed  was  sown,  others 
when  the  harvest  was  ended;  others — wild  and  teirl- 
ble — in  presence  of  captured  victims  doomed  to  tor- 
ture and  death  ;  while  others,  with  slow  and  solemn 
movement  and  carefully-observed  ceremonies,  were 
conducted  in  honor  of  some  religious  festival.  There 
was  scarce  an  occurrence  of  note,  or  a  convocation  of 
moment,  which  did  not  receive  commemoration  by  a 
dance.  Every  occasion  was  provocative  of  this  amuse- 
ment. 

Referring  to  the  dancing  of  the  tribes  composing 

1  Lawson's  "Carolina,"  p.  175.     London,  1714. 


94:  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTIIEEN   INDIANS. 

the  Creek  Confederacy,  Mr.  Bartram  '  writes :  "  They 
have  an  endless  variety  of  steps,  but  the  most  com- 
mon, and  that  which  I  term  the  most  civil,  and  indeed 
the  most  admired  and  practised  amongst  themselves, 
is  a  slow,  shuffling,  alternate  step ;  both  feet  move 
forward,  one  after  the  other,  first  the  right  foot  fore- 
most, and  next  the  left,  moving  one  after  the  other, 
in  opposite  circles,  i.  e.,  first  a  circle  of  young  men, 
and,  within,  a  circle  of  young  women  moving  to. 
gether  opposite  ways,  the  men  with  the  course  of  the 
sun  and  the  females  contrary  to  it  ;  the  men  strike 
their  arm  with  the  open  hand,  and  the  girls  clap  hands 
and  raise  their  shrill,  sweet  voices  answering  an  ele- 
vated shout  of  the  men  at  stated  times  of  termination 
of  the  stanzas ;  and  the  girls  perform  an  interlude  or 
chorus  separately. 

"  To  accompany  their  dances  they  have  songs  of 
different  classes,  as  martial,  bacchanalian  and  amorous 
which  last,  I  must  confess,  are  extravagantly  libidi- 
nous ; 3  and  they  have  moral  songs  which  seem  to  be 
the  most  esteemed  and  practised,  and  answer  the  pur- 
pose of  religious  lectures." 

The  Choctaws  were  distinguished  above  their 
neighbors  for  their  poetry  and  music.  Between  their 
towns  existed  great  rivalry  in  the  composition  of  songs 
for  dances,  and  each  year,  upon  the  solemnization  of 
the  Busk,  at  least  one  new  song  was  produced. 

Captain  Smith  thus  describes  a  dance  made  for  his 
entertainment  by  Pocahontas  during  the  absence  of 
her  father :  "In  a  fair,  plain  Field  they  made  a  Fire, 
before  which  he  sat  down  upon  a  Mat,  when  suddenly 
amongst  the  Woods  was  heard  such  a  hideous  Noise 

1  "  Travels,"  etc.,  p.  503.     London,  1792. 

a  Compare   Bossu'a  account  of  the  dance  of  impudieity.     "  Travels,"  vol.  i., 
p.  97.     London,  1771. 


DANCE    OF    POCAHONTAS.  95 

and  shrieking  that  the  English  betook  themselves  to 
their  Arms,  and  seized  on  two  or  three  Old  Men  by 
them,  supposing  Powhatan,  with  all  his  Power,  was 
coming  to  surprize  them.  But  presently  Pocahontas 
came,  willing  him  to  kill  her,  if  any  hurt  were  intended ; 
and  the  beholders,  which  were  Men,  Women  and  Chil- 
dren, satisfied  the  Captain  that  there  was  no  such 
matter.  Then  presently  they  were  presented  with  this 
An  tick  :  thirty  young  Women  came  naked  out  of  the 
Woods,  only  covered  behind  and  before  with  a  few 
Green  Leaves,  their  Bodies  all  painted,  some  of  one 
color,  some  of  another,  but  all  differing;  their  Leader 
had  a  fair  pair  of  Buck's  Horns  on  her  Head  and  an 
Otters  Skin  at  her  Girdle,  and  another  at  her  Arm, 
a  Quiver  of  Arrows  at  her  Back,  a  Bow  and  Ar- 
rows in  her  Hand.  The  next  had  in  her  Hand  a 
Sword,  another  a  Club,  another  a  Potstick;  all  of  'em 
being  Horned  alike.  The  rest  were  all  set  out  with 
their  several  Devices.  These  Fiends  with  most  Hel- 
lish Shouts  and  Cries,  rushing  from  among  the  Trees, 
cast  themselves  in  a  Ring  about  the  Fire,  Singing  and 
Dancing  with  most  excellent  ill  variety,  oft  falling  into 
their  infernal  passions,  and  then  solemnly  betaking 
themselves  again  to  Sing  and  Dance ;  having  spent 
near  an  hour  in  this  Mascarado,  as  they  enter  d,  in  like 
manner  they  departed." 

In  plate  xxxviii.  of  the  "  Brevis  Narratio,"  we  see 
nineteen  of  these  dancing-girls  moving  in  a  circle  and 
singing  the  praises  of  the  king  and  queen.  Their  steps 
are  more  graceful  and  their  motions  far  less  violent 
and  irregular  than  those  practised  in  religious  dances, 
such,  for  example,  as  were  observed  upon  the  occasion 
of  the  sacrifice  of  the  first-born.1 

1  "Brevis  Nar  ratio,"  plate  xxxiv. 


90  ANTIQUITIES    OF  THE    SOUTHEKN   INDIANS. 

The  great  game  upon  which  the  Southern  Indians 
staked  both  personal  reputation  and  property,  was  the 
cTiungke-game.  It  was  played  "by  the  warriors,  and 
with  those  discoidal  stones,  the  symmetry  and  beauty 
of  which  have  attracted  so  much  attention.  So  impor- 
tant was  this  amusement,  so  general  the  indulgence  in 
it,  and  so  desperate  the  betting,  that  we  have  deemed 
it  proper  to  devote  a  separate  chapter  to  its  history 
and  conduct. 

In  ball-play  one  village  or  tribe  was  often  arrayed 
against  the  other,  and  the  contest,  although  generally 
good-natured,  was  prosecuted  with  so  much  vigor  and 
excitement,  that  the  players  sometimes  encountered 
blows  and  tumbles  which  entailed  severe  bruises  and 
|  broken  limbs.  This  game  was  esteemed  noble  and 
manly;  and,  in  its  exercise,  involved  feats  of  strength 
and  agility.  Youths  of  both  sexes  were  frequently 
engaged,  and  the  principal  matches  were  had  in  the 
fall  of  the  year.  One  chief  challenges  another  to  the 
contest.  They  meet  and  make  up  the  game,  each  se- 
lecting from  his  own  tribe  an  equal  number  of  contest- 
ants. Upon  the  appointed  day  the  respective  parties 
meet  and  lay  off  the  ground  upon  some  plain  agreed 
upon,  in  the  vicinity  of  a  town.  Much  property  is 
staked  upon  the  issue,  and  this  is  deposited  in  a  pile. 
Each  party  is  then  addressed  by  its  chief,  who  admon- 
ishes fair  play  and  animates  the  contestants  with  the 
hope  and  glory  of  beating  their  antagonists.  The 
chiefs  take  no  active  part  in  the  sport,  but,  occupying 
a  suitable  position,  act  as  judges.  The  players  arrange 
themselves  in  the  centre  of  the  ball-ground,  and  the 
game  proceeds.  From  several  accounts  descriptive  of 
the  manner  in  which  the  game  was  played,  we  select  the 


*  yards 


BALL-PLAY.  97 

following-,  furnished  by  Mr.  Adair : '  "  The  ball  is  made 
of  a  piece  of  scraped  deer-skin,  moistened,  and  stuffed 
hard  with  deer's  hair,  and  strongly  sewed  with  deer's 
sinews.  The  ball-sticks  are  about  two  feet  long,  the 
lower  end  somewhat  resembling  the  palm  of  a  hand, 
and  which  are  worked  with  deer-skin  thongs.  Be-* 
tween  these  they  catch  the  ball,  and  throw  it  a  great 
distance,  when  not  prevented  by  some  of  the  opposite 
party,  who  fly  to  intercept  them.  The  goal  is  about 
five  hundred  yards  in  length ;  at  each  end  of  it  they 
fix  two  long,  bending  poles  into  the  ground,  three 
apart  below,  but  slanting  a  considerable  way 
outwards.  The  party  that  happens  to  throw  the  ball 
over  these,  counts  one ;  but  if  it  be  thrown  underneath, 
it  is  cast  back  and  played  for  as  usual.  The  gamesters 
are  equal  in  number  on  each  side ;  and  at  the  begin- 
ning of  every  course  of  the  ball,  they  throw  it  up  high 
in  the  centre  of  the  ground,  and  in  a  direct  line  be- 
tween the  two  goals.  When  the  crowd  of  players  pre- 
vents the  one  who  catched  the  ball,  from  throwing  it 
off  with  a  long  direction,  he  commonly  sends  it  the 
right  course  by  an  artful,  sharp  twirl.  They  are  so 
exceedingly  expert  in  this  manly  exercise,  that,  between 
the  goals,  the  ball  is  mostly  flying  the  different  ways, 
b}^  the  force  of  the  playing  sticks,  without  falling  to 
the  ground,  for  they  are  not  allowed  to  catch  it  with 
their  hands.  It  is 'surprising  to  sea  how  swiftly  they 
fly,  when  closely  chased  by  a  nimble-footed  pursuer ; 
wdien  they  are  intercepted  by  one  of  the  opposite 
party,  his  fear  of  being  cut  by  the  ball-sticks,  commonly 
gives  them  an  opportunity  of  throwing  it,  perhaps  a 
hundred  yards  ;  but  the  antagonist  sometimes  runs  up 

1  "History  of  American  Indians,"  p.  400.     London,  17*75. 

7 


98  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN"   INDIANS. 

behind,  and  by  a  sudden  stroke  dashes  down  the  ball. 
It  is  a  very  unusual  thing  to  see  them  act  spitefully  in 
any  sort  of  game,  not  even  in  this  severe  and  tempting 
exercise. 

u  Once,  indeed,  I  saw  some  break  the  legs  and  arms 
of  their  oj)pouents,  by  hurling  them  down,  when  on  a 
descent  and  running  at  full  speed.  But  I  afterward 
understood,  there  was  a  family  dispute  of  long  continu- 
ance between  them,  that  might  have  raised  their  spleen 
as  much  as  the  high  bets  they  had  then  at  stake,  which 
was  almost  all  they  were  worth.  The  Choktah  are 
exceedingly  addicted  to  gaming,  and  frequently,  on 
the  slightest  and  most  hazardous  occasions,  will  lay 
their  all  and  as  much  as  their  credit  can  procure." 
The  method  of  playing  this  game  did  not  materially 
differ  among  the  Southern  nations.1 

Foot-ball  was  also  a  manly  and  favorite  diversion. 
These  games  were  followed  by  feasting  and  dancing  in 
the  public  square.  Trials  of  skill  were  had  with  the 
bow  and  arrow,  the  spear  and  the  club.  The  Natchez 
women  amused  themselves  with  tossing  balls  by  hand, 
and  in  playing  a  game  with  bits  of  cane  eight  or  nine 
inches  long.  "  Three  of  these  they  hold  loosely  in  one 
hand,  and  knock  them  to  the  ground  with  another ;  if 
two  of  them  fall  with  the  round  side  undermost,  she 
that  played  counts  one ;  but  if  only  one,  she  counts 
nothing." 2 

Lawson  3  mentions  several  gambling  games,  as  be- 

1  Compare  Romans'  "  Concise  Natural  History  of  East  and  West  Florida," 
p.  79.  New  York,  1775.  Haywood's  "Natural  and  Aboriginal  History  of  Ten- 
nessee," p.  285.  Nashville,  1823.  Bartram's  "  Travels,"  etc.,  p.  506.  Lon- 
don, 1792. 

2  Du  Pratz'  "History  of  Louisiana,"  vol.  ii.,  p.   236.     London,  1763. 

3  "  History  of  Carolina,"  p.  176.  London,  1714.  Compare  Hennepin's  "  Con- 
tinuation of  the  New  Discovery,"  etc.,  chap,  xxi ,  p.  82.     London,  1698. 


OAMLNG,    FEASTS,    ETC.  99 

ing  in  vogue  among  the  Carolina  Indians,  some  played 
with  split  reeds  and  others  with  persimmon-stones. 

To  such   a   desperate   extent   was  gaming  carried, 

that,  having  lost  all  their  property,  the  players  would 

jk  not  infrequently  stake  upon  the  final  issue  even  their 

personal  liberty,  and  remain  willing  servants  of  the 

victors  until  redeemed  by  relatives  and  friends. 

The  great  feast  of  the  year,  among  the  Creeks,  was 
the  Boos-he-tav.  It  wras  celebrated  in  July  or  August, 
and  partook  of  the  character  of  a  sacred  festival,  dur- 
ing which  universal  thanks  were  offered  to  the  Great 
Spirit  for  the  incoming  harvest.  All  fires  were  then 
extinguished,  and  were  new  lighted  from  the  spark 
kindled  by  the  high-priest.  It  was  an  occasion  of  gen- 
eral purification  and  of  universal  amnesty  for  all  crimes 
committed  during  the  year,  murder  excepted.1 

x\lmost  every  month  had  its  peculiar  feast  or  festi- 
,  val.  Among  the  Natchez  the  year  began  with  our 
month  of  March,  and  was  divided  into  thirteen  moons. 
With  each  new  moon  a  feast  was' celebrated,  receiving 
its  name  from  the  principal  fruits  gathered  or  animals 
hunted.  Thus,  the  first  moon  was  called  the  Deer 
moon  and  was  observed  with  universal  joy  as  the  com- 
mencement of  the  year.  This  was  followed  by  the 
festival  of  strawberries.  The  third  moon  ushered  in 
the  small  corn,  and  was  impatiently  expected  because 
the  crop  of  large  corn  seldom  lasted  from  one  harvest 
to  the  other. 

The  water-melon  feast  occurred  during  the  fourth 
moon,  answering  to  our  month  of  June. 

'Hawkins'  "Sketch  of  the  Creek  Country."  Collections  of  the  Georgia  His- 
torical Society,  vol.  iii.,  part  1,  p.  75.  Savannah,  1848.  Bartram's  "Travels," 
etc.,  p.  SOY.  London,  1792.  Adair's  "History  of  American  Indians,"  p.  94. 
London,  1115.     Timberlake's  "Memoirs,"  p.  64.     London,  1765. 


100  ANTIQUITIES    OF    THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

The  fifth  moon  was  that  of  the  fishes.  At  this 
time  grapes  were  gathered. 

The  sixth  was  known  as  the  mulberry  moon.  The 
maize  or  Great- Corn  moon  succeeded,  and  was  ren- 
dered remarkable  by  the  most  noted  festival  of  the 
year.  The  Turkey  moon  answered  to  our  October, 
while  the  ninth  and  tenth  moons  were  known  respec- 
tively as  the  Buffalo  and  Bear  moons.  It  was  then 
those  animals  were  hunted.  The  eleventh  month  was 
called  the  cold-meal  moon;  the  twelfth,  the  chestnut 
moon  ;  and  the  thirteenth,  the  walnut  moon.1 

If  we  may  believe  Adair,2  the  annual  feast  of  love 
was  most  carefully  observed. 

There  were  festivals  in  honor  of  war  and  of  peace, 
feasts  of  the  dead,  of  marriage,  and  for  curing  the  sick, 
and  public  ceremonies  in  adoration  of  the  sun  and  in 
solemnization  of  various  religious  rites.  When  not 
actively  engaged  in  hunting,  or  in  warlike  pursuits, 
the  time  of  these  primitive  peoples  was  largely  spent 
in  feasting  and  dancing.  Beneath  mild  skies,  sur- 
rounded by  forests  yielding  many  and  nutritious 
fruits,  with  few  wants  in  the  present  and  little  care 
for  the  future,  their  lives  were  idly  given  to  amuse- 
ments, and  the  observance  of  sundry  festivals  whose 
recurrence  constituted  the  epochal  events  of  the  year. 

When  Cabeca  de  Vaca  asserted  that  the  Southern 
Indians  were  ignorant  of  all  time,  and  made  no  reckon- 
ing either  by  the  month  or  the  year,  his  statement  was 
not  entirely  correct.  We  have  already  seen  that  they 
divided  the  year  into  thirteen  moons.  They  also  rec- 
ognized four  seasons — the  return  of  the  sun,  summer, 
the   fall   of   the   leaf,    and    winter.     Of  the   celestial 

1  Du  Prutz'  "  History  of  Louisiana,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  185.     London,  1763. 

2  "History  of  American  Indians,"  p.  113.     London,  1775. 


DIVISION    OF   TIME. FUNERAL    RITES.  101 

luminaries  they  took  little  note  except  of  "  the  day- 
moon  or  sun,"  and  of  the  "night-sun,  or  moon." 
Three  divisions  were  assigned  to  the  day — morning,  or 
" the  sun's  coming-out,"  midday,  and  "  the  sun  fallen 
into  the  water." 

Arguing  from  the  periodicity  of  their  public  reli- 
gious feasts,  Adair  advances  the  idea  that  they  under- 
stood the  division  of  weeks  into  seven  days.  The  year 
commenced  with  the  first  new  moon  of  the  vernal 
equinox.  Knots  of  various  colors  and  notched  sticks 
were  used  to  mark  the  lapse  of  time.  The  Cherokees 
counted  as  high  as  a  hundred  u  by  various  numeral 
names,"  while  the  nations  of  East  and  West  Florida 
"  rose  no  higher  than  the  decimal  number,  adding 
units  after  it  by  a  conjunctive  copulative." 

We  conclude  these  general  observations  by  an  allu- 
sion to  the  funeral  rites  observed  by  the  Southern 
Indians.  From  the  multitude  of  sepulchral  shell  and 
earth  mounds  still  extant  along  the  coast,  it  is  evident 
that  in  ancient  times  the  islands  and  headlands  were 
densely  populated.  The  variant  ages  of  these  tumuli, 
*  their  internal  evidence  and  many  physical  facts  con- 
nected with  them,  give  assurance  that  this  Indian  oc- 
cupancy was  long  continued.  Here  the  small  shell- 
mound  formed  the  common  grave  of  the  natives — 
the  larger  earth-mounds  being  generally  erected  in 
honor  of  chief,  priest,  or  some  noted  person.  The 
common  dead  were  interred  in  a  horizontal  position, 
sometimes  singly,  but  usually  in  numbers.  The  corpses 
or  skeletons,  with  articles  of  property,  were,  in  not 
a  few  instances,  burnt  upon  the  spot  prior  to  the  erec- 
tion of  the  mound-tomb.  In  the  tumuli  of  chiefs  and 
priests,  however,  no  evidences  of  cremation  appear. 
In  them  the  corpse  was  interred  in  a  sitting  posture. 


102  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

A  thick  covering  of  tenacious  clay — enveloping  the 
body  like  a  great,  rude,  inverted  jar — or  a  light- wood 
post,  firmly  driven  into  the  earth,  against  which  the 
skeleton  or  dead  body  was  placed,  or  to  which,  when 
seated  on  the  ground,  it  was  securely  lashed  with 
a  grape-vine,  or  cord  of  some  sort,  was  sometimes  em- 
ployed to  keep  the  corpse  in  proper  position  while  the 
earth  was  gradually  accumulated  around  and  above  it. 

The  custom  of  depositing  with  the  dead  articles  of 
personal  property,  which,  it  was  believed,  would  prove 
of  service  to  them  both  in  their  journey  toward  and  in 
the  land  of  spirits,  seemingly  prevailed  from  the  earliest 
times.  These  sepulchral  tumuli  are  located  in  the 
£  vicinity  of  the  ancient  villages  and  fishing-resorts  of 
the  natives.  The  indications  are,  that  the  coast  was 
more  densely  populated  than  the  other  portions  of  the 
Southern  country,  excepting,  perhaps,  the  valley-lands 
of  some  of  the  principal  streams.  It  is  entirely  proba- 
ble that  the  natives  inhabiting  the  interior  resorted,  at 
certain  seasons  of  the  year,  in  considerable  numbers,  to 
the  islands  and  headlands  of  the  Atlantic  coast  and 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  for  the  purpose  of  fishing  and  sub- 
sisting upon  the  various  and  abundant  supplies  of  food 
which  the  salt-water  afforded.  This  the  frequency  of 
grave-mounds  and  relic-beds  amply  suggests. 

As  we  leave  the  sea-shore,  and  until  we  encounter 
the  rich  valleys  of  more  elevated  sections,  burial-mounds 
become  more  infrequent,  and  those  dedicated  to  the  in- 
humation of  the  general  dead  contain  a  larger  number 
of  skeletons  than  mounds  of  a  similar  class  located  on 
the  coast.  In  them,  so  far  as  our  observation  extends, 
evidences  of  cremation  are  usually  wanting. 

Through  the  pine-barren  belt  sepulchral  tumuli  are 
rarely  met  with ;  and  such  as  are  found  are  located  in 


GKAVE-MOUKDS.  103 

the  vicinity  of  deep  swamps  or  near  the  rivers  where 
luxuriant  forests  and  abundant  waters  afforded  gen- 
erous supplies  of  game  and  fish.  In  the  beautiful  al- 
luvial valleys  of  Upper  Georgia,  Tennessee,  the  Caro- 
linas,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  and  Louisiana,  we  again 
encounter  the  physical  traces  of  a  permanent  and  ex- 
tensive population.  Here  we  are  surrounded  with 
monuments  attesting  the  care  and  labor  expended  by 
these  primitive  peoples  in  commemoration  of  the  last 
resting-places  of  their  dead. 

These  burial-mounds  are  conical  or  elliptical  in 
form,  and  vary  in  size  from  the  small  tumulus,  whose 
outline  can  scarcely  be  traced,  to  barrows  quite  twenty 
feet  high,  and  a  hundred  feet  or  more  in  diameter  at 
the  base. 

The  practice  of  entombing  the  dead  in  artificial 
tumuli  was  abandoned  by  the  Southern  Indians  very 
shortly  after  the  advent  of  the  European,  and  there  are 
good  reasons  for  believing  that  the  custom  had  fallen 
into  disuse  prior  to  that  time.  The  summits  and  flanks 
of  many  large  mounds  which  were  never  constructed 
for  burial-purposes,  contain,  only  a  few  feet  below 
the  surface,  the  skeletons  of  modern  Indians.  Natural 
elevations  and  river-bluffs  are  frequently  filled  with 
graves  when  there  is  nothing  externally  to  distin- 
guish them  as  ancient  places  of  sepulture.  It  would 
seem  from  some  of  the  earliest  accounts  we  possess, 
that  in  the  sixteenth  century  and  among  the  Florida 
tribes  only  kings  and  high-priests  were  honored  with 
mound-tombs. 

From  the  absence  of  burial-mounds  in  many  locali- 
ties which  we  know  must  have  been  thickly  settled 
and  occupied  for  many  centuries  by  the  red  race,  we 
are  led  to  the  conclusion  that  the  construction  of  sepul- 


V- 


104  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

chral  tumuli  was  limited,  and  that  the  common  dead 
— undistinguished  by  such  laborious  sepulture — were 
returned  to  the  bosom  of  mother  earth  with  frail  mon- 
uments marking  the  places  of  their  final  repose. 

Even  where  we  possess  no  historic  knowledge  of 
the  preliminary  funeral  customs,  or  of  the  peoples  by 
whom  they  were  observed,  it  is  curious  to  note  the 
circumstance  that  contiguous  barrows,  similar  in  out- 
ward appearance,  when  opened,  reveal  different  modes 
of  interment.  As  wave  after  wave  breaks  upon  the 
beach  of  the  great  ocean  and  then  is  dissipated  into 
the  evanescent  foam  or  returns  to  the  main  to  be 
seen  and  heard  no  more,  each  leaving,  however,  upon 
the  strand  its  own  sea-shells  to  tell  that  the  tide  was 
once  there,  so  during  the  flight  of  the  lapsed  centuries 
have  various  tribes  swept  over  the  same  locality,  occu- 
pying it  in  turn,  and,  when  departing,  abandoning  to 
those  who  came  after,  manifest  proofs  of  their  tempo- 
rary dominion,  and  of  the  rites  observed  by  them  in 
the  inhumation  of  their  dead. 

Within  the  historic  period,  the  Choctaws  main- 
tained the  custom  of  erecting  mounds  over  their  dead — 
the  bodies  being  reserved  in  bark  and  cane  coffins  and 
deposited  in  a  bone-house  until  they  had  accumulated 
sufficiently  to  warrant  the  labor  of  a  general  inter- 
ment. In  the  early  narratives  we  note  a  singular 
absence  of  all  j:>ersonal  observation  of  sepulchral 
mound-building,  and  since  our  acquaintance  with  the 
manners  of  the  Southern  Indians  the  erection  of 
tumuli  above  the  dead  was  seldom  attempted  by 
them.  Instead  of  concealing  the  corpses  in  the  womb 
of  the  laboriously-constructed  earth  and  shell  mounds, 
they  deposited  their  dead  in  cane  baskets — having 
first   enveloped  them  in  shawls  and  mats  of  native 


EUNEKAL    EITES    OF   THE   NATCHEZ.  105 

manufacture — and  laid  them  away  in  caves  and  crev- 
ices in  the  rocks,  hid  them  in  hollow  trees,  exposed 
them  upon  scaffolds,  covered  them  with  logs  and 
stones,  submerged  them  in  rivers  and  lakes,  and 
buried  them  in  graves  carefully  lined  with  bark  and 
poles.  Of  the  funeral  rites  observed  by  the  Southern 
Indians  since  the  European  colonization  of  this  region, 
we  will  be  advised  by  the  following  references. 

Among  the  Natchez  the  dead  were  either  inhumed 
or  placed  in  tombs.  These  tombs  were  located  within 
or  very-  near  their  temples.  They  rested  upon  four 
forked  sticks,  fixed  fast  in  the  ground,  and  were  raised 
some  three  feet  above  the  earth.  About  eight  feet 
long,  and  a  foot  and  a  half  wide,  they  were  prepared 
for  the  reception  of  a  single  corpse.  After  the  body 
was  placed  upon  it,  a  basket-work  of  twigs  was  woven 
around  and  covered  with  mud,  an  opening  being  left 
at  the  head  through  which  food  was  presented  to  the 
deceased.  When  the  flesh  had  all  rotted  away,  the 
bones  were  taken  out,  placed  in  a  box  made  of  canes 
and  then  deposited  in  the  temple.  The  common  dead 
were  mourned  and  lamented  for  a  period  of  three 
days.  Those  who  fell  in  battle  were  honored  with  a 
more  protracted  and  grievous  lamentation. 

The  demise  of  a  Sun  was  followed  by  putting  to 
death  large  numbers  of  his  subjects,  both  male  and 
female,  that  he  might  not  appear  unattended  in  the 
spirit-world. 

In  1725  the  Stung  Serpent,  who  was  the  brother 
of  the  Great  Sun,  died.  M.  Le  Page  du  Pratz  was 
present  on  the  occasion,  and  furnishes  the  following 
description  of  what  then  occurred :  "  We  entered  the 
hut  of  the  deceased  and  found  him  on  his  bed  of  state, 
dressed  in  his  finest  cloaths,  his  face  painted  with  ver- 


106  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

nrilion,  shod  as  if  for  a  journey,  with  his  feather-crown 
on  his  head.  To  his  bed  were  fastened  his  arms, 
which  consisted  of  a  double-barreled  gun,  a  pistol, 
a  bow,  a  quiver  full  of  arrows,  and  a  tomahawk. 
Round  his  bed  were  placed  all  the  calumets  of  peace 
he  had  received  during  his  life,  and  on  a  pole,  planted 
in  the  ground  near  it,  hung  a  chain  of  forty-six  rings 
of  cane,  painted  red,  to  express  the  number  of  enemies 
he  had  slain.  All  his  doniesticks  were  round  him,  and 
they  presented  victuals  to  him  at  the  usual  hours,  as  if 
he  were  alive.  The  company  in  his  hut  were  composed 
of  his  favourite  wife,  of  a  second  wife,  which  he  kept 
in  another  village  and  visited  when  his  favourite  was 
with  child,  of  his  chancellor,  his  physician,  his  chief 
domestic,  his  pipe-bearer,  and  some  old  women,  who 
were  all  to  be  strangled  at  his  interment.  .  .  .  Soon 
after,  the  natives  begun  the  dance  of  death,  and  pre- 
pared for  the  funeral  of  the  Stung  Serpent.  Orders 
were  given  to  put  none  to  death  on  that  occasion,  but 
those  who  were  in  the  hut  of  the  deceased.  A  child, 
however,  had  been  already  strangled  by  its  father  and 
mother,  which  ransomed  their  lives  upon  the  death  of 
the  Great  Sun,  and  raised  them  from  the  rank  of  Stink- 
ards to  that  of  Nobles.  Those  who  were  appointed  to 
die  were  conducted  twice  a  day,  and  placed  in  two  rows 
before  the  temple,  where  they  acted  over  the  scene  of 
their  death,  each  accompanied  by  eight  of  their  own 
relations  who  were  to  be  their  executioners,  and  by 
that  office  exempted  themselves  from  dying  upon  the 
death  of  any  of  the  suns,  and  likewise  raised  them- 
selves to  the  dignity  of  men  of  rank.  ...  On  the  day 
of  the  interment,  the  wife  of  the  deceased  made  a  very 
moving  speech  to  the  French  who  were  present,  rec- 
ommending her  children — to  whom  she  also  addressed 
herself — to  their  friendship,  and  advising  a  perpetual 


FUNERAL    OF   THE    STUNG    SERPENT.  107 

union  between  the  two  nations.  Soon  after,  the  master 
of  the  ceremonies  appeared  in  a  red-feathered  crown, 
which  half  encircled  his  head,  having  a  red  staff  in  his 
hand  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  at  the  end  of  which  hung 
a  garland  of  black  feathers."  All  the  upper  part  of 
his  body  was  painted  red,  excepting  his  arms,  and 
from  his  girdle  to  his  knees  hung  a  fringe  of  feathers, 
the  rows  of  which  were  alternately  white  and  red. 
When  he  came  before  the  hut  of  the  deceased,  he  sa- 
luted him  with  a  great  7ioo,  and  then  began  the  cry  of 
death,  in  which  he  was  followed  by  the  Avhole  people. 
Immediately  after,  the  Stung  Serpent  was  brought  out 
on  his  bed  of  state,  and  was  placed  on  a  litter,  which 
six  of  the  guardians  of  the  temple  bore  on  their  shoul- 
ders. The  procession  then  began,  the  master  of  the 
ceremonies  walking  first,  and  after  him  the  oldest  war- 
rior, holding  in  one  hand  the  pole  with  the  rings  of 
canes,  and  in  the  other  the  pipe  of  war — a  mark  of  the 
dignity  of  the  deceased.  Next  followed  the  corpse,  af- 
ter which'  came  those  who  were  to  die  at  the  inter- 
ment. The  whole  procession  went  three  times  round 
the  hut  of  the  deceased,  and  then  those  who  carried 
the  corpse  proceeded  in  a  circular  kind  of  march,  ev- 
ery turn  intersecting  the  former,  until  they  came  to 
the  temple.  At  every  turn,  the  dead  child  Avas  thrown 
by  its  parents  before  the  bearers  of  the  corpse,  that 
they  might  walk  over  it ;  and  when  the  corpse  was 
placed  in  the  temple'  the  victims  were  immediately 
strangled.  The  Stung  Serpent  and  his  two  wives  were 
buried  in  the  same  grave  within  the  temple ;  the  other 
victims  were  intered  in  different  parts,  and  after  the 
ceremony  they  burnt,  according  to  custom,  the  hut  of 
the  deceased."  l 

1  Du  Pratz'  "History  of  Louisiana,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  216.     London,  1T63. 


108  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

The  Virginia  kings,  after  death,  were  disposed  of 
in  the  following  manner :  The  body  was  slit  in  the 
back,  and  through  the  opening  thus  made  the  flesh  was 
removed — the  sinews  being  left  so  as  to  preserve  the 
attachments  of  the  various  joints.  The  bones,  were 
then  dried,  the  skin  being  prevented  from  shrinking  by 
an  application  of  oil  or  grease.  Subsequently  they 
were  carefully  disposed  in  proper  order  in  the  skin, 
the  vacuities  caused  by  the  removal  of  the  flesh  being 
b  nicely  filled  with  fine  white  sand,  so  as  to  restore  the 
body  to  its  natural  size  and  appearance.  Thus  pre- 
pared, the  corpse  was  laid  upon  a  shelf,  raised  above 
the  floor,  in  the  building  erected  for  the  preservation 
of  the  corpses  of  their  kings  and  rulers.  This  shelf  was 
overspread  with  mats.  The  flesh  removed  during  this 
rude  process  of  embalming,  having  been  exposed  upon 
hurdles  to  the  sun  and  thoroughly  dried,  was  sewed 
up  in  a  basket  and  set  at  the  feet  of  the  body.  In  this 
house  of  the  dead  was  set  up  a  Quioccos  or  idol,  as  a 
guard  or  sacred  watcher  over  the  remains.  A  priest 
remained  in  constant  attendance  night  and  day,  whose 
office  it  was  to  keep  every  thing  in  order.1 

The  common  people  were  buried  in  the  earth  in 
ordinary  graves. 

Among  the  Carolina  tribes,  the  burial  of  the  dead 
was  accompanied  with  special  ceremonies — the  expense 
and  formality  attendant  upon  the  funeral,  according 
with  the  rank  of  the  deceased.  The  corpse  was  first 
placed  in  a  cane  hurdle  and  deposited  in  an  out-house, 
made  for  the  purpose,  where  it  was  suffered  to  remain 
for  a  day  and  a  night,  guarded  and  mourned  over  by 

1  Hariot's  " Virginia,"  plate  xxii.  Francoforti  ad  Mcenum,  1590.  "History 
and  Present  State  of  Virginia  "  (Beverly).  Book  iii.,  chap,  viii.,  p.  41.  London, 
1705.     "A  True  Relation  of  Virginia"  (Smith),  p.  43.     Boston,  1866. 


FUNERAL    CUSTOMS    OF   CAROLINA   INDIANS.  109 

the  nearest  relatives,  with  dishevelled  hair.  Those 
who  are  to  officiate  at  the  funeral,  go  into  the  town, 
and,  from  the  backs  of  the  first  young  men  they  meet, 
strip  such  blankets  and  match-coats  as  they  deem  suit- 
able for  their  purpose.  In  these  the  dead  body  is 
wrapped,  and  then  covered  with  two  or  three  mats 
made  of  rushes  or  cane.  The  coffin  is  made  of  woven 
reeds,  or  hollow  canes  tied  fast  at  both  ends.  .  When 
every  thing  is  prepared  for  the  interment,  the  corpse  is 
carried  from  the  house  in  which  it  has  been  lying,  into 
the  orchard  of  peach-trees,  and  is  there  deposited  in 
another  hurdle.  Seated  upon  mats,  are  there  congre- 
j/  gated  the  family  and  tribe  of  the  deceased,  and  invited 
guests.  The  medicine-man  or  conjurer,  having  enjoined 
silence,  then  pronounces  a  funeral  oration,  during 
which  he  recounts  the  exploits  of  the  deceased,  his 
valor,  skill,  love  of  country,  property,  and  influence, 
alludes  to  the  void  caused  by  his  death,  and  counsels 
those  who  remain  to  supply  his  place  by  following  in 
his  footsteps,  pictures  the  happiness  he  will  encounter 
in  the  world  of  spirits  to  which  he  has  gone,  and  con- 
cludes his  address  by  an  allusion  to  the  prominent 
traditions  of  his  tribe.  He  is  followed  by  other  speak- 
ers. "At  last,"  says  Mr.  Lawson,1  "the  Corpse  is 
^brought  away  from  that  Hurdle  to  the  Grave  by  four 
young  Men,  attended  by  the  Kelations,  the  King,  old 
Men,  and  all  the  Nation.  When  they  come  to  the 
Sepulcre,  which  is  about  six  Foot  deep  and  eight 
Foot  long,  having  at  each  end  (that  is,  at  the  Head  and 
Foot),  a  Light-Wood  or  Pitch-Pine  Fork  driven  close 
down  the  sides  of  the  Grave,  firmly  into  the  Ground ; 
(these  two  Forks  are  to  contain  a  Ridge-Pole,  as  you 
shall  understand  presently)  before  they  lay  the  Corps 

1  "  History  of  Carolina,"  etc.,  p.  181.     London,  1714. 


110  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

into  the  Grave,  they  cover  the  bottom  two  or  three 
times  over  with  the  Bark  of  Trees,  then  they  let  down 
the  Corps  (with  two  Belts  that  the  Indians  carry  their 
Burdens  withal)  very  leisurely,  upon  the  said  Barks ; 
then  they  lay  over  a  Pole  of  the  same  "Wood  in  the 
v  two  Forks,  and  having  a  great  many  Pieces  of  Pitch- 
Pine  Logs,  about  two  Foot  and  a  half  long,  they  stick 
them  in  the  sides  of  the  Grave  down  each  End,  and 
near  the  Top  thereof,  where  the  other  Ends  lie  on  the 
Ridge-Pole,  so  that  they  are  declining  like  the  Roof  of 
a  House.  These  being  very  thick-plac'd  they  cover 
them  [many  times  double]  with  Bark;  then  they 
throw  the  Earth  thereon,  that  came  out  of  the  Grave, 
and  beat  it  down  very  firm ;  by  this  Means  the  dead 
Body  lies  in  a  Vault,  nothing  touching  him.  .  .  . 

"Now,  when  the  Flesh  is  rotted  and  moulder' d 
from  the  Bone,  they  take  up  the  Carcass  and  clean  the 
Bones,  and  joint  them  together ;  afterwards,  they  dress 
them  up  in  pure  white  dress'd  Deer-skins,  and  lay 
'-*..  them  amongst  their  Grandees  and  Kings  in  the  Quio- 
gozon,  which  is  their  Royal  Tomb  or  Burial-Place  of 
their  Kings  and  War-Captains.  This  is  a  very  large 
magnificent  Cabin  [according  to  their  Building]  which 
is  rais'cl  at  the  Publick  Charge  of  the  Nation,  and  main- 
tain'd  in  a  great  deal  of  Form  and  Neatness.  About 
seven  foot  high,  is  a  Floor  or  Loft  made,  on  which  lie 
all  their  Princes  and  Great  Men  that  have  died  for 
several  hundred  Years,  all  attir'd  in  the  Dress  I  before 
told  you  of.  No  Person  is  to  have  his  Bones  lie  here, 
and  to  be  thus  dress'd,  unless  he  gives  a  round  Sum 
of  their  Money  to  the  Rulers  for  Admittance.  If  they 
remove  never  so  far,  to  live  in  a  Foreign  Country,  they 
never  fail  to  take  all  these  dead  Bones  along  with 
them,   though   the   Tediousness  of  their   short  daily 


FUNERAL    CUSTOMS    OF   CAROLINA    INDIANS.  Ill 

Marches  keeps  them  never  so  long  on  their  Journey. 
They  reverence  and  adore  this  Quiogoson  with  all  the 
Veneration  and  Respect  that  is  possible  for  such  a 
People  to  discharge,  and  had  rather  lose  all,  than  have 
any  Violence  or  Injury  offer'd  thereto.  These  Sav- 
ages differ  some  small  matter  in  their  Burials ;  some 
burying  right  upwards  and  otherwise.  .  .  .  Yet  they 
all  agree  in  their  Mourning,  which  is  to  appear  every 
Night,  at  the  Sepulcre,  and  howl  and  weep  in  a  very 
dismal  manner,  having  their  faces  dawb'd  over  with 
Light-wood  Soot  [which  is  the  same  as  Lamp-black] 
and  Bear's  Oil.  This  renders  them  as  black  as  it  is 
possible  to  make  themselves,  so  that  theirs  very  much 
resemble  the  Faces  of  Executed  Men  boil'd  in  Tar. 
If  the  dead  Person  was  a  Grandee,  to  carry  on  the 
Funeral  Ceremonies  they  hire  People  to  cry  and  la- 
ment over  the  dead  Man.  Of  this  sort  there  are  sev- 
eral that  practise  it  for  a  Livelihood,  and  are  very 
expert  at  Shedding  abundance  of  Tears,  and  howling 
like  Wolves,  and  so  discharging  their  Office  with 
abundance  of  Hypocrisy  and  Art.  The  women  are 
never  accompanied  with  these  Ceremonies  after  Death  ; 
and  to  what  World  they  allot  that  Sex,  I  never  un- 
derstood, unless,  to  wait  on  their  dead  Husbands ;  but 
they  have  more  Wit  than  some  of  the  Eastern  Na- 
tions, who  sacrifice  themselves  to  accompany  their  Hus- 
bands into  the  next  World.  It  is  the  dead  Man's 
Relations  by  Blood,  as  his  Uncles,  Brothers,  Sisters, 
Cousins,  Sons,  and  Daughters,  that  mourn  in  good 
earnest,  the  Wives  thinking  their  Duty  is  discharg'd, 
and  that  they  are  become  free  when  their  Husband  is 
dead ;  so,  as  fast  as  they  can,  look  out  for  another  to 
supply  his  Place." 

The  ceremonies  attendant  upon  the  sepulture  of 


112  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

the  Choctaw  dead  are  thus  described  by  Captain  Ber- 
nard Romans : '  "  As  soon  as  the  deceased  is  departed 
a  stage  is  erected  and  the  corpse  laid  on  it  and  cov- 
ered with  a  bear-skin ;  if  he  be  a  man  of  note  it  is 
decorated  and  the  poles  painted  red  with  verrnillion 
and  bear's  oil ;  if  a  child,  it  is  put  upon  stakes  set 
across :  at  this  stage  the  relations  come  and  weep,  ask- 
ing many  questions  of  the  corpse,  such  as,  Why  he  left 
them  ?  Did  not  his  wife  serve  him  well  ?  Was  he  not 
contented  with  his  children  ?  Had  he  not  corn  enough  ? 
Did  not  his  land  produce  sufficient  of  every  thing? 
Was  he  afraid  of  his  enemies?  etc.,  and  this  accom- 
panied by  loud  howlings;  the  women  will  be  there 
constantly,  and  sometimes,  with  the  corrupted  air  and 
heat  of  the  sun,  faint  so  as  to  oblige  the  by-standers 
to  carry  them  home;  the  men  will  also  come  and 
mourn  in  the  same  manner,  but  in  the  night  or  at 
other  unseasonable  times  when  they  are  least  likely 
to  be  discovered. 

"  The  stage  is  fenced  round  with  poles,  it  remains 
thus  a  certain  time,  but  not  a  fixed  space,  this  is  some- 
times extended  to  three  or  four  months,  but  seldom 
more  than  half  that  time.  A  certain  set  of  venerable 
old  Gentlemen  who  wear  very  long  nails  as  a  distin- 
guishing badge  on  the  thumb,  fore  and  middle  finger 
of  each  hand,  constantly  travel  through  the  nation 
[when  i  was  there  i  was  told  there  were  but  five  of  this 
respectable  order]  that  one  of  them  may  acquaint  those 
concerned  of  the  expiration  of  this  period,  which  is  ac- 
cording to  their  own  fancy ;  the  day  being  come  the 
friends  and  relations  assemble  near  the  stage,  a  fire  is 
made,  and  the  respectable  operator,  after  the  body  is 

1  "A  Concise  Natural  History  of  East  and  West  Florida,"  etc.,  pp.  89,  90. 
New  York,  1115. 


FUNERAL  CEREMONIES  OF  THE  CHOCTAWS.    113 

taken  down,  with  his  nails  tears  the  remaining  flesh  off 
the  bones  and  throws  it  with  the  entrails  into  the  Are, 
where  it  is  consumed ;  then  he  scrapes  the  bones  and 
burns  the  scrapings  likewise;  the  head,  being  painted 
red  with  vermillion,  is,  with  the  rest  of  the  bones  put 
into  a  neatly  made  chest  (which,  for  a  chief,  is  also 
made  red),  and  deposited  in  the  loft  of  a  hut  built  for 
that  purpose,  and  called  bone-house;  each  town  has 
one  of  these ;  after  remaining  here  one  year  or  there- 
abouts, if  he  be  a  man  of  any  note,  they  take  the  chest 
down,  and  in  an  assembly  of  relations  and  friends  they 
wee])  once  more  over  him,  refresh  the  colour  of  the 
head,  paint  the  box  red,  and  then  deposit  him  to  last- 
ing oblivion. 

a  An  enemy,  and  one  who  commits  suicide,  is  buried 
under  the  earth  as  one  to  be  directly  forgotten  and  un- 
worthy the  above  ceremonial  obsequies  and  mourning." 

Mr.  Bartram's  account  is  substantially  the  same, 
save  that  he  intimates  there  is  a  general  inhumation  so 
soon  as  the  bone-house  becomes  full  of  coffins.  Then 
the  respective  coffins  are  borne  by  the  nearest  relatives 
of  the  deceased  to  the  place  of  interment,  where  they 
are  all  piled  one  upon  another  in  the  form  of  a  pyramid, 
and  the  conical  hill  of  earth  heaped  above.  The  funer- 
al ceremonies  are  concluded  with  the  solemnization  of 
a  festival  called  the  feast  of  the  dead.1 

The  Muscogidges  buried  their  dead  in  the  earth — a 
deep  pit,  about  four  feet  square,  being  dug  under  the 
cabin  and  couch  occupied  by  the  deceased.  This  grave 
was  carefully  lined  with  cypress-bark,  and  in  it  the 
corpse   placed  in  a  sitting  posture.     Such   articles  of 


1  See  Bartram's    "Travels,"  etc.,  p.  514.     London,  1*792.     Compare  Adair's 
History  of  the  American  Indians,"  pp.  183,  184.     London,  1775. 


114  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

property  as  he  valued  most,  were  deposited  with  him.1 
Amono-  the  Alibamons — who  also  buried  their  dead  in 
a  sitting  posture — to  the  suicide  was  denied  the  rite  of 
sepulture.  He  was  regarded  as  a  coward,  and  his  body 
was  thrown  into  a  river.2 

The  funeral  customs  of  the  Chicasaws 3  did  not  dif- 
fer materially  from  those  of  the  Muscogulges.  They 
interred  the  dead  as  soon  as  the  breath  left  the  body, 
and  beneath  the  couch  on  which  the  deceased  expired. 

Lieutenant  Tiniberlake 4  intimates  that  the  Ckero- 
kees,  living  upon  the  banks  of  the  Tennessee,  seldom 
buried  their  dead,  but  threw  them  into  the  river.  Mr. 
Adair's  observations  were  entirely  different.  He  as- 
serts 5  that  when  any  member  of  this  nation  died  away 
from  home — if  his  companions  were  not  closely  pur- 
sued— the  corpse  was  placed  on  a  scaffold,  covered  with 
notched  logs,  to  protect  it  from  wild  beasts  and  birds. 
When  they  imagined  that  the  flesh  had  been  con- 
sumed and  the  bones  become  dry,  they  returned  to  the 
spot,  enveloped  the  skeleton  in  white  deer-skins, 
brought  it  home,  and,  having  mourned  over  it,  buried 
it  with  the  usual  solemnities.  Piles  of  stones  were 
heaped  up  to  commemorate  the  spots  where  fell  their 
distinguished  warriors,  and  to  these  rude  monuments 
each  passer-by  added  a  stone  in  token  of  his  apprecia- 
tion of  the  valor  and  brave  deeds  of  the  deceased. 

When  a  Cherokee  died  at  home,  his  corpse  was  at 
once  washed  and  anointed,  brought  out  of  his  lodge 
and  placed  in  a  sitting  posture  on  the  skins  of  wild 

1  Bartram's  "Travels,"  etc.,  p.  513.  London,  1792.  Romans'  ["  Florida," 
p.  98.     New  York,  1775. 

2  Bossu's  "Travels  through  Louisiana,"  vol.  i.,  pp.  257,  258.     London,  1771. 

3  Romans' "  Florida,"  p.  71. 

4  "Memoirs,"  etc.,  p.  67.     London,  1765. 

5  "  History  of  the  American  Indians,"  p.  180.     London,  1775. 


FUNERAL  CEREMONIES  OF  THE  CHEEOKEES.    115 

beasts,  supported  by  all  his  articles  of  property  dis- 
posed around  him,  and  with  his  face  turned  westward, 
as  though  looking  into  the  door  of  the  winter-house. 
A  eulogium  was  then  pronounced;  and,  when  the 
period  allotted  for  mourning  had  elapsed,  the  body 

^carried  three  times  around  the  house,  in  which  it  was 
to  be  interred,  those  officiating  stopping  for  half  a 
minute  at  the  completion  of  each  circuit.  The  reli- 
gious man  of  the  family  of  the  deceased,  who  walked 
in  front,  chanted  the  funeral-song,  in  the  chorus  of 
which  the  procession  joined. 

Mr.  Adair  was  present  when  a  chief  was  buried. 
It  would  appear  that  he  was  interred  beneath  the  floor 

*ot  a  winter-house.  The  preliminary  funeral  rites  hav- 
ing been  performed  in  the  manner  just  indicated,  "they 
laid,"  says  our  observer,  "  the  corpse  in  his  tomb  in  a 
sitting  posture,  with  his  face  towards  the  east,  his  head 
anointed  with  bear's  oil  and  his  face  painted  red,  but 
not  streaked  with  black,  because  that  is  a  constant 
emblem  of  war  and  death ;  he  was  drest  in  his  finest 
apparel,  having  his  gun  and  pouch  and  trusty  hiccory 
bow,  with  a  young  panther's  skin  full  of  arrows,  along- 
side of  him,  and  every  other  useful  thing  he  had  been 
possessed  of,  that,  when  he  rises  again,  they  may  serve 
him  in  that  tract  of  land  which  pleased  him  best  be- 
fore he  went  to  take  his  long  sleep.  His  tomb  was 
firm  and  clean  inside.  They  covered  it  with  thick  logs, 
so  as  to  bear  several  tiers  of  cypress  bark,  and  such  a 
quantity  of  clay,  as  would  confine  the  putrid  smell, 
and  be  on  a  level  with  the  rest  of  the  floor.  They  of- 
ten sleep  over  those  tombs,  which,  with  the  loud  Avail- 
ing of  the  women  at'  the  dusk  of  the  evening,  and 
dawn  of  the  day,  on  benches  close  by  the  tombs,  must 
awake  the  memory  of  their  relations  very  often;  and 


116  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEKN   INDIANS, 

if  they  were  killed  by  an  enemy,  it  helps  to  irritate 
and  set  on  such  revengeful  tempers,  to  retaliate  blood 
for  blood." 

Juan  Ortiz — sole  survivor,  among  the  Florida  tribesr 
of  the  expedition  of  Panphilo  de  Narvaez,  and  for 
twelve  long  years  condemned  to  slavery  in  the  "  Land 
of  Flowers  " — was,  by  his  captors,  compelled  to  stand 
guard  at  the  temple  in  which  the  Indian  dead  reposed. 
Upon  peril  of  his  life  he  was  forced  to  watch,  lest  the 
wild  beasts  should  come  by  night  and  steal  away  the 
bodies.  The  story  of  his  good  fortune  in  delivering 
from  the  jaws  of  a  predatory  wolf  the  corpse  of  an 
Indian  boy,  is  familiar  to  the  readers  of  the  narratives 
of  De  Soto's  expedition. 

The  general  respect  paid  by  the  natives  to  their 
dead,  the  care  exhibited  in  the  proper  solemnization  of 
their  funeral  rites,  the  private  and  public  exhibitions 
of  sorrow,  the  expressed  belief  in  the  existence  of  a 
'  sjurit- world,  the  effort  to  furnish  the  deceased  with 
such  articles  as  would  prove  most  serviceable  upon 
the  long  journey,  and  in  new  and  pleasant  fields,  the 
jealousy  with  which  they  watched  over  and  defended 
the  juaces  of  sepulture,  and  the  earnestness  and  hon- 
or with  which  they  perpetuated  the  memories  of  the 
great  when  they  no  longer  walked  among  the  living, 
declare  that  these  primitive  peoj)les — how  barbarous 
soever  they,  in  other  respects,  might  have  been — held 
no"  light  thoughts  from  objects  of  mortality,"  drew  no 
"  provocatives  of  mirth  from  anatomies,"  and  showed 
no  jugglers'  tricks  with  skeletons.  Their  corpses  were 
never  knaved  out  of  their  graves  to  have  their  skulls 
made  into  drinking-bowls,  or  their  bones  turned  into 
pipes.  In  nothing  was  the  character  of  the  Southern 
Indian  worthy  of  greater  commendation  than  in  his 


VENERATION  FOR  GRAVES.  117 

veneration  for  the  reputation  and  the  tomb  of  his  de- 
ceased leader,  in  the  solicitude  with  which  he  laid  his 
relative  and  friend  to  rest  beneath  the  shadows  of  his 
native  forests  and  within  sight  of  his  own  village,  and 
in  the  vigilance  with  which  he  insured  the  undisturbed 
repose  of  the  dead  of  family  and  tribe. 

Truthfully  might  the  returning  Indian,  as  he  muses 
over  the  deserted  and  mutilated  burial-place  of  his  fa- 
thers, exclaim : 

';  This  bank,  in  which  the  dead  were  laid, 
Was  sacred  when  its  soil  was  ours  ; 

"  But  now  the  wheat  is  green  and  high, 
On  clods  that  hid  the  warrior's  breast, 
And  scattered  in  the  furrows  lie 

The  weapons  of  his  rest ; 
And  there,  in  the  loose  sand,  is  thrown 
Of  his  large  arm  the  mouldering  bone. 

*'  Ah  !  little  thought  the  strong  and  brave 
Who  bore  their  lifeless  chieftain  forth, 
Or  the  young  wife,  that  weeping  gave 

Her  first-born  to  the  earth, 
That  the  pale  race,  who  waste  us  now, 
Among  their  bones  should  guide  the  plough." 


CHAPTER  V. 

General  Observations  on  Mound-Building. — Bartram's  Aecount  of  the  Georgia 
Tumuli. — Absence  of  Megalithic  Monuments  and  Animal-shaped  Mounds. — 
Distribution  of  the  Ancient  Population. — Few  Sepulchral  Mounds  erected 
since  the  Advent  of  Europeans. — Antiquity  of  the  Tumuli. 

What  Sir  Thomas  Browne *  quaintly  styles  "  the 
restless  inquietude  for  the  diuturnity  of  our  memo- 
ries," an  ambitious  desire  to  wrest  from  oblivion  the 
names  and  graves  of  such  as  were  famed  for  feats  of 
arms  or  remarkable  for  some  individual  excellence,  an 
appreciation  of  the  fact  that  in  the  tomb  of  the  dead 
hero  lived  recollections  which,  while  they  dignified 
the  past,  also  inspired  hope  in  the  present  and  proved 
a  powerful  incentive  to  future  action,  and  that  inclina- 
tion (so  natural  to  the  human  heart  in  all  ages)  to 
render  the  most  affectionate  and  honorable  sepulture 
to  the  departed,  have  united  in  causing  the  erection  of 
some  of  the  oldest  and  most  prominent  artificial  monu- 
ments extant  upon  the  earth's  surface.  Urnal  inter- 
ments, burnt  relics  and  earth-mounds,  inasmuch  as 
they  "  lie  not  in  fear  of  worms,"  endure  when  personal 
and  even  national  memories  have  perished.  In  some 
of  them  rest  the  surest  and  earliest  physical  proofs  of 
the  antiquity  of  man.     Amid  the  depths  of  forests, 

1  "  Hydriotaphia." 


ANTIQUITY    OF   EARTH-MOUNDS.  119 

where  every  thing  like  a  history  or  even  a  tradition  of 
the  peoples  who  once  dwelt  beneath  their  shadows,  is, 
to  us  of  the  present  day,  emphatically  "  in  the  urn," 
the  curiosity  of  subsequent  ages  has,  in  ancient  graves 
and  sepulchral  tumuli,  caught  a  glimpse  of  many 
things  appertaining  to  a  forgotten  past,  learned  lessons 
of  the  general  pyre,  the  last  valediction,  the  funeral  cus- 
toms, the  religious  rites  and  the  domestic  economy 
of  nameless  nations  whose  former  existence  could  oth- 
erwise have  been  scarcely  more  than  conjectured. 

In  periods  the  most  remote,  the  earth-mound  seems 
to  have  suggested  itself  as  the  most  natural  and  en- 
during  method  of  perpetuating  the  memory  and  of 
y  designating  the  last  resting-place  of  the  illustrious 
*  dead.  The  mound  at  Aconithus,  erected  over  Arta- 
chies — the  superintendent  of  the  canal  at  Athos — re- 
mains, to  this  day,  a  memorial  of  Persian  usage,  a  pub- 
lic recognition  of  the  ability  of  that  engineer,  so 
famous  in  his  generation,  and  a  proof  of  the  fidelity 
of  Herodotus  as  an  historian.  Those  mighty  tumuli 
which  tower  along  the  banks  of  the  Borysthenes  are 
the  tombs  of  Scythian  kings.  The  neighborhood  of 
the  Gygaean  Lake,  near  Sarclis,  in  Asia  Minor,  is  ren- 
dered remarkable  by  the  presence  of  circular  mounds, 
among  which,  perhaps,  the  most  recent  is  that  "  prince 
of  tumuli,"  the  tomb  of  Alyattes,  King  of  Lydia,  which 
for  nearly  twenty-five  hundred  years  has  braved  the 
changing  seasons. 

Allusions  to  such  structures  are  not  infrequent 
among  the  ancient  poets.  Thus  Crestes,  when  ad- 
dressing the  manes  of  the  murdered  Agamemnon,  says : 

"  If  but  some  Lycian  spear  'neath  Ilium's  walla 
Had  lowly  laid  thee, 
A  mighty  name  in  the  Atridan  halls 
Thou  wouldst  have  made  thee. 


* 


* 


120  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

Then  liaclst  thou  pitched  thy  fortunes  like  a  star 
To  son  and  daughter  shining  from  afar! 

Beyond  the  wide-waved  sea  the  high-heaped  mound 
Had  told  forever 

Thy  feats  of  battle,  and  with  glory  crowned 

Thy  high  endeavor." 

The  ceremonies  attendant  upon  the  burial  of  Pa- 
troclus  are  thus  commemorated  in  the  "  Iliad : " 

"  The  Greeks  obey.     Where  yet  the  embers  glow 
Wide  o'er  the  pile  the  sable  wine  they  throw, 
And  deep  subsides  the  ashy  heap  below. 
Next  the  white  bones  his  sad  companions  place, 
With  tears  collected,  in  the  golden  vase. 
The  sacred  relics  to  the  tent  they  bore ; 
The  urn  a  vale  of  linen  covered  o'er. 
That  done,  they  bid  the  sepulchre  aspire, 
And  cast  the  deep  foundations  round  the  pyre. 
High  in  the  midst  they  heap  the  sioelling  bed 
Of  rising  earth,  memorial  of  the  dead." 

Tydeus  and  Lycus  were  buried  under  earthen 
barrows,  and  Alexander  the  Great  caused  a  tumulus 
to  be  heaped  above  his  friend  Hephaestion  at  a  cost  of 
twelve  hundred  talents.  So  ancient  are  some  of  these 
earth-mounds  that  they  were  old  and  mysterious  in 
the  days  of  Homer.  Even  in  more  polished  ages,  and 
in  seasons  of  extreme  023ulence,  the  memory  of  the 
mound-tomb  was  not  forgotten.  Its  rude  earth  dome 
was  seen  surmounting  a  circular  arrangement  of  ex- 
quisite porticos,  columns,  and  decorated  walls,  facing 
nearly  every  degree  of  the  circle,  and  resplendent  in  all 
the  carving  and  polish  which  the  most  beautiful  mar- 
ble could  receive.1 

Apart  from  monuments  which  we  know  to  have 
been  erected  within  the  historic  period,  scattered  over 

1  See  Smyth's  "  Antiquity  of  Intellectual  Man,"  pp.  102, 103.    Edinburgh,  1868. 


ANCIENT   TUMULI   IN    GEORGIA.  121 

the  plains,  peopling  the  valleys,  and  crowning  the  hills 
of  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  America,  and  the  islands  of 
the  ocean,  we  find  ancient  tumuli — abundant  and  si- 
lent witnesses  of  the  early  constructive  labors  of  name- 
less tribes  and  nations. 

More  than  three  hundred  'years  ago,  artificial  tu- 
muli within  the  present  geographical  limits  of  Georgia 
attracted  the  notice  of  the  Spanish  adventurers  and 
early  voyagers.  These  physical  traces  of  a  popula- 
tion apparently  older  and  more  patient  of  labor  than 
that  which  they  found  in  possession  of  the  soil,  while 
they  excited  the  wonder  and  curiosity  of  the  colo- 
nists, do  not  appear  to  have  enlisted  any  careful 
inquiry,  or  to  have  received  a  minute  examination. 
The  most  august  of  them  were  dismissed  with  lit- 
tle more  than  a  bare  mention  of  their  existence,  and, 
even  where  descriptions  were  attempted,  they  were 
either  so  meagre  in  their  outlines  as  to  be  almost 
valueless  for  the  purposes  of  definite  information,  or 
so  exasperated  as  to  savor  more  of  romance  than  of 
reality. 

At  a  remove  from  those  who  could  verify  their  ob- 
servations by  personal  examination  and  careful  inspec- 
tion— filled  with  vague  conjectures  touching  manners 
and  matters  entirely  novel  in  their  character — in  a  re- 
gion wild,  remote,  and  abounding  with  strange  scenes, 
unusual  features  and  but  partially-comprehended  tradi- 
tions— with  imaginations  often  excited  to  the  last  de- 
gree— influenced  by  extravagant  rumors — sometimes 
investing  an  occurrence,  a  suggestion,  or  an  object,  with 
an  air  of  importance  far  beyond  its  deserts,  and  again 
treating  with  entire  neglect  or  disdainful  words  things 
which  were  really  worthy  of  specific  mention  and  his- 
toric commemoration,  the  early  narrators  compel  the 


122  ANTIQUITIES    OF    THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

candid  reader  to   receive  their   relations  cum   grano 
sails. 

■  Since  the  date  of  their  observations,  and  even  of 
Mr.  Bartram's  visit,  the  winds  and  rains  of  many  sea- 
sons have  sadly  changed  the  appearance  of  these  earth- 
mounds.  Worn  away  by  the  elements,  marred  by  the 
%  ploughshare,  and  torn  asunder  by  the  curious,  many  of 
them  have  been  despoiled  of  their  original  proportions. 
The  branches  of  the  forest-trees  which  once  overshad- 
owed them  are,  in  not  a  few  instances,  no  longer  out- 
stretched for  their  preservation,  and  some  have  been 
wholly  crushed  out  of  existence  by  the  tread  of  a 
statelier  civilization. 

Making,  however,  due  allowance  for  such  changes, 
after  a  somewhat  extended  and  careful  survey  of  these 
monuments,  we  cannot  resist  the  impression  that  the 
early  descriptions  are  frequently  not  only  over- wrought, 
but  unnatural.  What  would  now  be  regarded  as  an 
ordinary  conical  mound  has,  on  more  than  one  occasion, 
been  represented  as  possessing  physical  peculiarities  of 
an  unusual  and  remarkable  character. 

Garcilasso  mentions  the  existence  of  large  artificial 
tumuli  with  precipitous  sides,  flat  on  the  top,  and 
located  in  rich  valleys,  near  the  banks  of  beautiful 
streams,  and  says  that  they  were  erected  for  the  pur- 
pose of  sustaining  the  houses  of  chiefs  and  their  fami- 
lies. Wooden  stairways  made  by  cutting  out  inclined 
planes  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  wide,  flanked  on  the  sides 
with  posts  and  with  -poles  laid  horizontally  across  the 
earthen  steps,  afforded  the  means  of  ascending  to  their 
tops.  At  the  foot  of  these  mounds  a  square  was 
marked  out,  around  which  were  built  the  dwellings  of 
the  principal  men  of  the  tribe.  Outside  appeared  the 
wigwams  of  the  common  people.     A   disposition  to 


BARTRAM's    ACCOUNT   OF   THE    GEORGIA    TUMULI.      123 

place  the  residence  of  the  chief  in  a  commanding  posi- 
tion— thereby  elevating  the  cacique  above  his  subjects 
— and  a  desire  to  contribute  to  his  personal  security  are 
assigned  as  motives  for  the  expenditure  of  so  much  labor. 

Various  are  the  allusions  made  by  that  intelligent 
and  interesting  traveller,  Mr.  William  Bartram,  to  the 
presence  of  ancient  tumuli  within  the  limits  of  Georgia. 
Some  of  his  descriptions  are  evidently  exaggerated, 
but  they  are  the  most  minute  which  have  been  pre- 
served for  our  information.  From  them  we  select  the 
following. 

Above  the  town  of  Wrightsboro  and  overlooking 
the  low  grounds  of  the  north  branch  of  Little  River, 
he  saw  "  very  magnificent  monuments  of  the  power 
and  industry  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  these  lands. 
...  I  observed,"  he  writes,  "  a  stupendous  conical 
pyramid,  or  artificial  mount  of  earth,  vast  tetragon  ter- 
races, and  a  large  sunken  area,  of  a  cubical  form,  en- 
compassed with  banks  of  earth ;  and  certain  traces  of 
a  larger  Indian  town,  the  work  of  a  powerful  nation, 
whose  period  of  grandeur  perhaps  long  preceded  the 
discovery  of  this  continent."  1 

At  Silver  Bluff,  on  the  Savannah  River,  the  surface 
of  the  ground  was  rendered  remarkable  by  "  various 
monuments  and  vestiges  of  the  residence  of  the  an- 
cients ;  as  Indian  conical  mounts,  terraces,  areas,  etc., 
as  well  as  remains  or  traces  of  fortresses  of  regular  for- 
mation." " 

Near  Fort  James,  which  was  located  not  far  from 
the  confluence  of  the  Broad  and  Savannah  Rivers,  the 
surgeon  of  the  garrison  drew  the  attention  of  Mr.  Bar- 
tram  to  some  Indian  monuments  "  worthy  of  every 

1  "Travels,"  etc.,  p.  37.     London,  1*792. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  313. 


124  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

traveller's  notice.  .  .  .  These  wonderful  labours  of  the 
ancients  stand  in  a  level  plain,  very  near  the  bank  of 
the  river,  now  twenty  or  thirty  yards  from  it.  They 
consist  of  conical  mounts  of  earth,  and  four  square  ter- 
races, etc.  The  great  mount  is  in  the  form  of  a  cone, 
about  forty  or  fifty  feet  high,  and  the  circumference  of 
its  base  two  or  three  hundred  yards,  entirely  composed 
of  the  loamy  rich  earth  of  the  low-grounds ;  the  top  or 
aj)ex  is  flat :  a  spiral  path  or  track  leading  from  the 
ground  up  to  the  top  is  still  visible,  where  now  grows 
a  large,  beautiful  spreading  Eed  Cedar  (Juniperus 
Americana) ;  there  appear  four  niches,  excavated  out  of 
the  sides  of  this  hill,  at  different  heights  from  the 
base,  fronting  the  four  cardinal  points ;  these  niches  or 
sentry  boxes  are  entered  into  from  the  winding  path, 
and  seem  to  have  been  meant  for  resting-places  or  look- 
outs. The  circumjacent  level  grounds  are  cleared  and 
planted  with  Indian  Corn  at  present ;  and  I  think  the 
proprietor  of  these  lands,  wrho  accompanied  us  to  this 
place,  said  that  the  mount  itself  yielded  above  one 
hundred  bushels  in  one  season :  the  land  hereabouts  is 
indeed  exceedingly  fertile  and  productive."  * 

Having  suggested  that  these  tumuli  were  intended  to 
serve  as  "  look-out  towers,"  having  commented  upon  the 
fact  that  such  public  works  would  have  required  the 
united  labor  and  attention  of  a  whole  nation— circum- 
stanced as  the  Indians  then  were — to  have  constructed 
one  of  them  almost  in  an  age,  and  after  describing  sev- 
eral smaller  mounds  "  round  the  great  one,  with  some 
very  large  tetragon  terraces  on  each  side,  near  one 
hundred  yards  in  length,"  with  surfaces  elevated  four, 
six,  eight,  and  ten  feet  above  the  ground,  our  author 
concludes  by  hazarding  the  conjecture  that  these  arti- 

1  "Travels,"  etc.,  pp.  322,  323.     London,  1792. 


Y 


ANCIENT  MOUNDS  IN  THE  CHEROKEE  COUNTRY.   125 

ficial  elevations  were  designed  as  "  retreats  and  ref- 
uges "  from  the  swelling  tide  of  the  river  during  sea- 
sons of  sudden  inundations. 

The  mounds  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Ocmulgee 
River,  near  Macon,  did  not  escape  the  observation  of 
Mr.  Bartrain.  Even  the  lonely  mounds  along  the  Ala- 
tamaha  attracted  his  attention. 

The  council-house  of  the  Cherokee  town  of  Cowe, 
he  tells  us,  was  a  large  rotunda  capable  of  accomodat- 
ing several  hundred  people.  It  stood  "  on  the  top  of 
an  ancient  artificial  mount  of  earth,  of  about  twenty 
feet  perpendicular,"  and — the  rotunda  itself  being 
rather  more  than  thirty  feet  high — the  whole  fabric 
possessed  an  elevation  of  about  sixty  feet.  "  It  is 
proper  to  observe,"  he  continues,  "  that  this  mount  on 
which  the  rotunda  stands,  is  of  a  much  ancienter  date 
than  the  building,  and  perhaps  was  raised  for  another 
puipose.  The  Cherokees  themselves  are  as  ignorant 
as  we  are,  by  what  people  or  for  what  purpose  these 
artificial  hills  were  raised ;  they  have  various  stories 
concerning  them,  the  best  of  which  amount  to  no  more 
than  mere  conjecture,  and  leave  us  entirely  in  the  dark ; 
but  they  have  a  tradition  common  with  the  other  na- 
tions of  Indians,  that  they  found  them  in  much  the 
same  condition  as  they  now  appear,  when  their  fore- 
fathers arrived  from  the  West  and  possessed  them- 
selves of  the  country,  after  vanquishing  the  nations  of 
red  men  who  then  inhabited  it,  who  themselves  found 
these  mounts  when  they  took  possession  of  the  coun- 
try, the  former  possessors  delivering  the  same  story 
concerning  them :  perhaps  they  were  designed  and  ap- 
propriated by  the  people  who  constructed  them,  to 
some  religious  purpose  as  great  altars  and  temples." ' 

1  "Travels,"  etc.,  pp.  '365,  366.     London,  1*792. 


12(5  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN-   INDIANS. 

During  the  progress  of  this  investigation  it  will  be 
perceived  that  mound-building — which  seems  to  have 
been  falling  into  disuse  among  the  Southern  Indians 
prior  to  the  dawn  of  the  historic  period — was  entirely 
abandoned  very  shortly  after  intercourse  was  estab- 
lished between  the  Europeans  and  the  red-men.  We 
will  observe,  moreover,  that  these  ancient  tumuli  were, 
by  later  tribes,  subjected  to  secondary  uses,  so  that  in 
not  a  few  instances  the  summits  and  flanks  of  large 
temple-mounds  originally  designed  for  religious  objects 
— such  as  the  worship  of  the  sun — were,  by  the  Creeks 
and  Cherokees,  converted  into  stockade-forts,  used  as 
elevations  for  council-lodges  and  the  residences  of  their 
chiefs,  or  devoted  to  the  purposes  of  sepulture.  This 
can  scarcely  be  wondered  at  when  we  remember  that 
many  of  the  nomadic  tribes  who  peopled  this  region 
were  unstable  in  their  seats,  engaged  in  ever-recurring 
and  annihilating  wars,  and  constantly  yielding  to  the 
conquest  of  more  powerful  neighbors  who,  expelling 
them  from  some  coveted  hunting-ground  or  fishing- 
resort,  possessed  themselves  of  the  desired  domain, 
caring  little  for  the  frail  memories  which  clustered 
about  the  name  and  monuments  of  the  vanquished. 
In  an  age  entirely  devoid  of  letters,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  with  the  lapse  of  time  the  victors  should  have  pre- 
served not  even  a  distinct  tradition  of  the  conquered. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  the  North  American  In- 
dian was  generally  quite  reticent  as  to  his  people  and 
their  old  customs,  and  frequently  denied  to  the  stranger 
a  knowledge  of  matters  which  he  did  not  desire  either 
to  discuss  or  to  reveal.  When  we  reflect  upon  the  care- 
less and  uncertain  manner  in  which  the  annals  of  these 
peoples  were  perpetuated,  it  is  not  improbable  that  in 
the  course  of  centuries  all  definite   accounts  of  the 


ABSENCE    OF   MEGALITHIC    MONUMENTS.  lti< 

builders  of  these  artificial  elevations  and  the  history  of 
their  construction  should  have  faded  from  the  recol- 
lection even  of  the  descendants  of  those  by  whom  they 
were  erected. 

In  one  of  his  addresses  to  the  pupils  of  the  Royal 
Academy,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  remarked  that  when 
the  ignorant  inhabitants  of  the  East  were  questioned 
concerning  the  stately  ruins  which  filled  their  land — 
melancholy  monuments  of  former  grandeur  and  long- 
lost  science — their  universal  response  was,  "  They  were 
built  by  magicians."  Finding  a  vast  gulf  between  its 
own  powers  and  works  indicative  of  skill  and  great 
labor,  the  untaught  and  inert  mind  of  the  savage  dis- 
misses the  contemplation  of  their  origin  and  primal  uses 
either  with  an  avowal  of  utter  ignorance  on  the  subject 
or  by  referring  their  creation  to  the  agency  of  some 
supernatural  influence.  It  is  proper,  therefore,  to  re- 
ceive with  caution  the  traditions  delivered  by  the 
modern  Indians  with  regard  to  the  erection  and  history 
of  the  more  august  tumuli  which  dignify  the  valleys 
and  tower  along  the  banks  of  some  of  the  principal 
rivers  in  Georgia.  With  the  exception  of  stone  graves, 
rock -piles,  and  walls  loosely  constructed  of  stones,  laid 
one  upon  the  other,  there  is,  in  this  State,  a  remarkable 
absence  of  megalithic  monuments,  such  as  dolmens, 
menhirs,  and  avenues,  which  abound  in  so  many  por- 
tions of  the  Old  World.  We  search  in  vain  for  animal- 
shaped  mounds ;  and  yet  Georgia,  in  almost  every  sec- 
tion, teems  with  vestiges  of  an  ancient  population  now 
wholly  extinct  within  her  borders.  Stone  tumuli  and 
rudely-constructed  rock-walls  rear  their  heads  even 
upon  the  summit  of  lofty  Yonah.  The  spurs  of  the 
Blue  Ridge  give  frequent  evidence  of  inhumations 
whose  mouldering  heaps  have  for  generations  defied 


128  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

the  annihilating  influences  of  the  tempest.  The  beau- 
tiful valleys  of  Nacoochee,  of  the  Etowah,  the  Ooste- 
naula,  the  Chattahoochee,  and  other  streams,  are  ren- 
dered remarkable  by  the  presence  of  tumuli  of  unusual 
size.  Upon  the  banks  of  the  Savannah,  by  the  waters 
of  the  Ogeechee,  and  within  the  swamps  of  the  Ala- 
tamaha,  are  found  surprising  monuments  of  ancient 
industry  and  devotion.  Even  throughout  the  lonely 
pine-barren  region  similar  remains  exist  wherever  a 
truant  stream  or  moss-clad  swamp  infuses  new  vigor 
into  the  forest  growth,  and  affords  friendly  cover  for 
game.  The  coast  and  the  low-lying  islands  are  literally 
studded  with  tumuli  beneath  which  the  unnumbered 
and  nameless  dead  of  centuries  repose. 

As  the  presence  of  these  mounds  may  be  regarded 
as  indicating  the  particular  localities  most  thickly  peo- 
pled by  the  aborigines  in  years  long  since  reckoned  with 
an  unrecorded  past,  we  are  able  to  state,  in  general 
terms,  that  the  tendency  of  this  early  population  was 
toward  the  rivers  and  deep  swamps,  the  rich  valleys 
and  the  sea-coast.  The  jxhysical  inducements  which 
impelled  nomadic  tribes  to  give  a  preference  to  such 
seats  are  obvious.  Seldom  are  earth-mounds  found  at 
a  considerable  remove  from  water-courses.  Water  and 
game  were  the  chief  attractions  in  the  choice  of  a  set- 
tlement. Rich  alluvial  lands,  whose  fertility  would 
make  amends  for  the  rude  cultivation  bestowed  upon 
them,  were  often  selected  as  the  sites  of  their  vil- 
lages. In  those  early  days  the  rivers  abounded  with 
fish,  and  the  deep  swamps  were  replete  with  terrapins, 
alligators,  deer,  and  other  game.  In  the  depths  of 
these  swamps,  beneath  the  shadows  of  moss-covered 
trees  and  by  the  sides  of  the  sluggish  lagoons,  large 
mounds  are  not  infrequent.     It  is  upon  the  islands, 


ANCIENT   TUMULI   IN    GEOKGIA.  129 

however,  and  along  the  headlands  of  the  coast,  that  they 
appear  in  greatest  numbers. 

Take,  for  example,  that  group  of  more  than  forty 
mounds  upon  the  Colonel's  Island,  in  Liberty  County, 
located  in  the  vicinity  of  a  large  spring,  which  for  un- 
numbered years  has  been  sending  forth  its  copious  and 
refreshing  waters.  Besides  the  regular  sepulchral 
tumuli  composed  of  sand,  the  adjacent  fields  are  liter- 
ally hoary  with  shell-mounds  and  the  debris  of  long- 
continued  encampments.  Extended  oyster-beds,  neigh- 
boring creeks  abounding  with  crabs,  shrimp,  and  salt- 
water fish  of  every  variety  native  to  the  coast,  woods 
in  former  years  well  stocked  with  game,  the  natural 
advantages  of  a  high,  dry  bluff  sheltered  from  north- 
easterly  gales,  and  this  never-failing  supply  of  fresh 
water,  without  doubt  rendered  this  a  very  attractive 
spot  to  the  Indian.  His  settlement  here  was  perma- 
nent and  extensive.  Most  of  the  tumuli  in  this  neigh- 
borhood are  sepulchral  in  their  character.  Such  is 
the  distinguishing  peculiarity  of  nearly  all  the  coast 
mounds. 

The  ancient  tumuli  still  extant  within  the  geo- 
graphical limits  of  Georgia  are  frequently  associated 
in  groups,  and  at  other  times  exist  as  isolated  monu- 
ments erected  upon  or  near  localities  possessing  some 
natural  advantages  for  observation,  defence,  or  for  the 
facile  procurement  of  food.  In  form  they  are  circular, 
elliptical,  quadrangular,  and  polygonal.  Some  are  flat 
on  the  top,  resembling  truncated  pyramids  and  trun- 
cated cones.  The  prevailing  type,  however,  is  that  of 
the  conical  earth-mound.  There  is  every  variety  in 
size,  from  the  large  temple-mound  on  the  Etowah — 
more  than  sixty-five  feet  high,  and  with  a  summit 
diameter  of  over  two  hundred  feet — to  the  small  sepul- 


130  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN-  INDIANS. 

chral  tumulus  whose  existence  can  scarcely  be  recog- 
nized. Many  are  almost  level  with  the  ground,  and 
decomposing  human  "bones,  mingled  with  fragments  of 
pottery,  lie  exposed  upon  the  surface.  Constructed  of 
loose  mould,  clay,  and  sand,  they  are  liable  to  constant 
diminution  in  size,  and  eventually  to  total  obliteration. 
The  consequence  is,  they  are  all  more  or  less  reduced, 
and  we  may  readily  believe  that  many  of  the  smaller 
ones  and  those  of  oldest  dates  have  entirely  disap- 
peared. 

Aside  from  the  careful  and  laborious  preparation 
of  their  Chunky-Yards,'  the  construction  of  elevated 
foundations  for  their  rotundas,  and  the  erection  of 
occasional  and  small  tumuli  above  some  deceased  per- 
sons of  note,  it  would  appear  that  the  Georgia  tribes 
had  well  nigh  abandoned  the  custom  of  mound-build- 
ing prior  to  the  advent  of  the  Europeans.  In  Plate 
XL.  of  the  "Brevis  Narratio"2  we  have  a  spirited 
representation  of  the  ceremonies  observed  by  the 
Florida  Indians  upon  the  occasion  of  the  sepulture 
of  their  kings  and  priests.  Located  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  village  appears  a  small  conical  mound  surmounted 
by  the  shell  drinking-cup  of  the  deceased,  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  row  of  arrows  stuck  in  the  ground. 
Gathered  in  a  circle  about  this  sepulchral  tumulus 
the  bereaved  members  of  the  tribe,  upon  bended 
knees,  are  bewailing  the  death  of  him  in  whose  honor 
this  grave-mound  had  been  heaped  up. 

Bartram  3  commemorates  the  fact  that  in  his  day 
*  the  Choctaws  covered  the  pyramid  of  coffins,  taken 


1  Sec  Bartram's  "  Creek  and  Cherokee  Indians."     "  Transactions  of  the  Amer- 
ican Ethnological  Society,"  vol.  iii.,  part  1,  p.  52. 

2  Francoforti   ad  Mcenum,  De  Bry.      Anno  1591. 
s  "Travels,"  etc.,  pp.  514,  515.     London,  1792. 


MOUND-BUILDING    WITHIN"    THE   HISTOEIO    PERIOD.     131 

from  the  bone-house,  with  earth,  thus  raising  "  a  coni- 
cal hill  or  mount." 

Tomo-chi-chi  pointed  out  to  General  Oglethorpe  a 
large  conical  mound  near  Savannah,  in  which  he  said 
the  Yamacraw  chief  was  interred,  who  had,  many 
years  before,  entertained  a  great  white  man  with  a 
red  beard,  who  entered  the  Savannah  River  in  a  large 
vessel,  and  in  his  barge  came  up  to  Yamacraw  bluff.1 

AVithin  the  range  of  my  personal  observation, 
glass  beads,  silver  ornaments,  hawk-bells,  metallic  ket- 
tles, and  occasionally  a  rusty  gun  or  rifle-barrel,  have 
been  found  in  earth  mounds ;  but  they  evidently  be- 
longed to  secondary  interments,  the  graves  in  which 
they  were  located  being  either  on  the  top  or  sides  of 
the  tumuli,  and  but  a  few  feet  deep. 

Only  in  one  instance  has  the  writer  discovered  any 
article  of  European  manufacture  interred  with  the 
dead  in  whose  honor  the  mound  was  erected.  Upon 
opening  a  small  mound  on  the  coast,  a  few  miles  below 
Savannah,  an  earthen  pot,  several  arrow-heads,  a  stone 
celt,  and  a  portion  of  an  old-fashioned  sword,  were 
seen  in  immediate  association  with  the  decayed  bones 
of  a  human  skeleton.  This  tumulus  was  conical  in 
form,  seven  feet  high,  and  about  twenty  feet  in  di- 
ameter at  the  base.  It  contained  a  single  skeleton, 
and  that  lay,  with  the  articles  enumerated,  at  the  bot- 
tom and  on  a  level  with  the  plain.  The  oak  handle, 
most  of  the  guard,  and  about  seven  inches  of  the 
blade  of  the  weapon  still  remained.  The  rest  had 
perished  from  rust.  Strange  to  say,  the  oak  had  more 
effectually  than  the  metal  resisted  the  "  gnawing  tooth 
of  time."     This  mound  had  never,  prior  to  this  occa- 

1  "  History  of  the  Province  of  Georgia,"  etc.,  by  John  Gcrar  William  De 
Brahm,  p.  SS.    Wormeloe,  1849. 


132  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

sion,  been  opened,  or  in  any  manner  disturbed,  except 
by  the  winds  and  rains  of  the  changing  seasons.  The 
interment  was  primary,  and  the  articles  were  lodged 
with  the  dead  before  this  mound-tomb  was  heaped 
above  him. 

It  may  be  confidently  asserted,  therefore,  that  bur- 
ial-mounds were  erected  by  the  Southern  Indians 
within  the  historic  period ;  but  it  is  not  clear  that  the 
modern  tribes  had  aught  to  do  with  the  construction 
of  those  larger  tumuli,  in  form  resembling  truncated 
pyramids  and  truncated  cones,  sometimes  terraced,  fre- 
quently surrounded  by  a  ditch  or  embankment,  and 
intended  for  purposes  other  than  those  of  sepulture. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  antecedent  usages  of 
the  natives  with  respect  to  the  erection  of  sepulchral 
tumuli,  it  is  quite  certain  that  their  use  was  discon- 
tinued very  shortly  after  the  arrival  of  the  colonists. 
Then,  instead  of  being  carefully  disposed  in  the  womb 
of  the  laboriously-constructed  mound,  the  dead  were 
exposed  upon  hastily-prepared  scaffolds,  hidden  away 
in  ledges  of  rocks,  buried  beneath  the  floors  of  their 
lodges,  concealed  in  hollow  trees,  submerged  in  ponds, 
lakes  and  rivers,  or  interred  in  the  forests  with  but 
ephemeral  indicia  to  mark  their  last  resting-places. 
When  used  at  all  by  the  later  tribes,  these  ancient 
tumuli  seem  to  have  been  employed  as  convenient 
localities  for  what  we  may  call  secondary  interments. 

It  is  safe  to  assert  that  most  of  the  mounds  ante- 
date the  historic  period.  Compared  with  each  other 
they  differ  materially  in  age.  This  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered at,  when  we  remember  that  the  occupancy 
of  this  region  by  the  red  race,  if  we  credit  their 
traditions  and  properly  interpret  the  monuments 
whigh  they  have  left  behind  them,  must  have  lasted 


ANTIQUITY    OF   THE   TUMULI.  133 

for  many  generations.  Some  of  these  tumuli  are 
not  less  than  eight  centuries  old,  while  at  least  one, 
as  we  have  already  intimated,  was  thrown  up  after 
the  European  had  visited  the  New  World.  In  the 
absence  of  all  definite  information,  the  antiquity  of 
these  tumuli  may  be  readily  inferred  from  their  lo- 
cation, internal  evidence,  and  from  the  growth  of  the 
forest-trees  which  overshadow  them.  One  of  the 
noblest  specimens  of  the  live-oak  we  have  ever  seen 
grew  upon  the  summit,  and  with  its  majestic  arms 
threw  a  ju'otecting  influence  above  and  around  the 
entire  mound ;  the  dead,  nameless  here  for  evermore ; 
his  tomb  a  rude  heap  of  native  earth  in  the  solitude 
of  the  wild- wood  he  once  loved  so  well;  his  com- 
panions gone,  his  memory  forgotten,  and  this  pride  of 
the  forest  seemingly  a  guardian  of  the  consecrated 
spot,  with  its  deep  foliage  affording  an  inviting  retreat 
wherein  the  pleasant  birds  of  spring  might  warble 
their  morning  and  evening  songs,  its  sturdy  roots  pre- 
serving the  symmetry  of  the  grave,  its  overarching 
branches  defending  its  yielding  form  from  the  ruthless 
influences  of  the  tempest.  Attired  in  its  garb  of  sober 
green,  with  its  drapery  of  sombre  moss  swaying 
slowly  and  solemnly  in  the  ambient  air,  it  appeared 
an  aged  mourner  watching  over  the  dead  of  the  chil- 
dren of  the  forest.1 

If  to  the  time  probably  consumed  in  the  actual 
construction  of  some  of  the  largest  tumuli,  we  add  the 
period  intervening  between  their  completion  and 
abandonment — the  length  of  which,  although  entirely 
a  matter  of  conjecture,  could  assuredly  have  been  by 
no  means  inconsiderable — and  then  note  the  fact  that, 

1  This  live-oak  was  nearly  ten  fe^t  in  diameter,  and  we  know  that  it  is  a  tree 
of  slow  growth. 


134:  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

when  first  observed  by  the  whites,  they  were  deserted 
and  overgrown  with  forest-trees  apparently  as  large 
as  any  which  composed  the  surrounding  forests — not 
forgetting  the  further  circumstance,  that  the  Indians 
who  were  domiciled  here  could  impart  to  the  inquir- 
ing European  not  even  a  tradition  of  the  time  when 
or  of  the  peoples  by  whom  they  were  built — in  endeav- 
oring to  ascertain  their  age,  the  mind  is  irresistibly 
led  back  to  a  remote  date. 

That  the  peoples  who  once  possessed  the  hydro- 
graphical  basin  of  the  Mississippi,  and,  departing,  left 
behind  them  all  along  the  banks  of. the  Father  of 
Waters,  in  the  valleys  of  the  Ohio,  the  Scioto  and  else- 
where, striking  monuments  of  their  labors,  supersti- 
tions, and  combined  industry,  at  some  remote  period 
occupied  at  least  some  of  the  fertile  valleys  of  Cher- 
okee, Middle  and  Western  Georgia,  is  not  improb- 
able. The  location  and  physical  peculiarities  of  some 
tumuli  and  enclosures,  the  character  of  the  remains 
found  in  and  near  them,  the  presence  of  stone  idols 
and  metallic  ornaments,  and  the  traditions  of  modern 
Indians — who  regarded  them  with  commingled  igno- 
rance and  wonder — unite  in  claiming  for  them  not 
only  a  marked  antiquity,  but  also  a  striking  resem- 
blance to  the  monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
When  compared  with  mounds  which  we  know  to  be 
the  product  of  the  labor  of  the  ancestors  of  the  pres- 
ent Indians,  characteristic  differences  are  observed,  for 
which  we  are  sometimes  at  a  loss  satisfactorily  to 
account. 

While  it  may  be  regarded  as  a  matter  of  specula- 
tion whether  the  builders  of  the  terraced  mounds  and 
enclosed  works  within  the  confines  of  Georgia  were 
the  actual  progenitors  of  the  Indians  who  occupied 


MOUND-BUILDEES.  135 

tliis  country  when  it  was  first  visited  by  the  Europe- 
an, and  while  we  may  not  be  able  fully  to  explain  how 
it  came  to  pass  that  the  later  tribes  were  more  nomadic 
in  their  habits,  less  patient  of  labor,  and  so  neglect- 
ful of  many  of  the  customs  which  seemingly  obtained 
among  the  peoples  whose  combined  industry  erected 
these  enduring  monuments — in  the  light  of  the  Span- 
ish narratives,  after  a  careful  consideration  of  the  rel- 
ics themselves,  and  in  view  of  all  the  facts  which  have 
thus  far  been  disclosed,  both  by  personal  observation 
and  the  investigation  of  others,  while  freely  admitting 
that  the  modern  Indians,  from  various  causes,  had 
ceased  to  engage  in  the  erection  of  works  in  whose  com- 
pletion, with  the  indifferent  implements  at  command, 
so  much  tedious  physical  effort  was  involved,  we  nev- 
ertheless see  no  good  reason  for  supposing  that  these 
more  prominent  tumuli  and  enclosures  may  not  have 
been  constructed  in  the  olden  time  by  peoples  akin 
to  and  in  the  main  by  no  means  further  advanced  in 
semi-civilization  than  the  red-men  native  here  at  the 
dawn  of  the  historic  period.  In  a  word,  we  do  not 
concur  in  the  opinion,  so  often  expressed,  that  the 
mound-builders  were  a  race  distinct  from  and  supe- 
ior  in  art,  government,  and  religion,  to  the  Southern 
Indians  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Mounds  on  the  Etowah  River. — Temple  for  Sun-worship. — Stone  Images. — Fish- 
preserves. — Tumuli  in  the  Valley  of  Little  Shoulder-bone  Creek. — Circular 
Earth-work  on  the  Head-waters  of  the  Ogeechee. — Stone  Tumulus  near  Sparta. 
— Mounds  on  the  Savannah  River. — Meeting  between  the  Cacica  of  the  Savan- 
nah and  De  Soto. 

Passing  from  these  general  observations,  we  pro- 
ceed to  consider  the  physical  peculiarities  of  some  of 
the  most  interesting  and  prominent  groups  of  ancient 
mounds  and  enclosures  within  the  present  geographical 
limits  of  Georgia. 

The  first  we  shall  notice  are  located  upon  the  right 
bank  of  the  Etowah  River,  on  the  plantation  of  Colo- 
nel Lewis  Tumlin,  a  few  miles  from  Cartersville,  in 
Bartow  County.  Viewed  as  a  whole,  this  group  is 
the  most  remarkable  within  the  confines  of  the  State. 
These  mounds  are  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  beautiful 
and  fertile  valley.  They  occupy  a  central  position  in 
an  area  of  some  fifty  acres,  bounded  on  the  south  and 
east  by  the  Etowah  River,  and  on  the  north  and  west 
by  a  large  ditch  or  artificial  canal,  which  at  its  lower 
end  communicates  directly  with  the  river.  This  moat 
(G  G,  Plate  I.)  at  present  varies  in  depth  from  five  to 
twenty-five  feet,  and  in  width  from  twenty  to  seventy- 
five  feet.  No  parapets  or  earth-walls  appear  upon  its 
edges.     Along  its  line  are  two  reservoirs  (D  D),  of 


AM  PHOTO  LITHOGRAPHIC  CO   *>    OSBOHNU  WWttSS.) 


MOUNDS    IN   THE    ETOWAH    VALLEr.  137 

about  an  acre  each,  possessing  an  average  depth  of  not 
less  than  twenty  feet,  and  its  upper  end  expands  into 
an  artificial  pond  (P),  elliptical  in  form,  and  somewhat 
deeper  than  the  excavations  mentioned. 

Within  the  enclosure  formed  by  this  moat  and  the 
river  are  seven  mounds.  Three  of  them  are  preeminent 
in  size,  the  one  designated  in  the  accompanying  plan 
(Plate  I)  by  the  letter  A,  far  surpassing  the  others 
both  in  its  proj:>ortions  and  in  the  degree  of  interest 
which  attaches  to  it. 

To  the  eye  of  the  observer,  as  it  rests  for  the  first 
time  upon  its  towering  form,  it  seems  a  monument  of 
the  past  ages,  venerable  in  its  antiquity,  solemn,  silent, 
and  yet  not  voiceless,  a  remarkable  exhibition  of  the 
power  and  industry  of  a  former  race.  With  its  erection 
the  modern  hunter  tribes,  so  far  as  our  information 
extends,  had  naught  to  do.  Composed  of  earth,  sim- 
ple, yet  impressive  in  form,  it  seems  calculated  for  an 
almost  endless  duration.  The  soil,  gravel,  and  smaller 
stones  taken  from  the  moat  and  the  reservoirs  were 
expended  in  the  construction  of  these  tumuli.  The  sur- 
face of  the  ground,  for  a  considerable  distance  around 
the  northern  bases,  was  then  removed  and  placed  upon 
their  summits.  Viewed  from  the  north,  the  valley  dips 
toward  the  mounds,  so  that  they  appear  to  lift  them- 
selves from  out  a  basin. 

The  central  tumulus  rises  about  sixty-five  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  valley.  It  is  entirely  artificial,  consist- 
ing wholly  of  the  earth  taken  from  the  moat  and  the 
excavations,  in  connection  with  the  soil  collected  around 
its  base.  It  has  received  no  assistance  whatever  from 
any  natural  hill  or  elevation. 

In  general  outline  it  may  be  regarded  as  quadran- 
gular, if  we  disregard  a  slight  angle  to  the  south.    That 


13S  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

taken  into  account,  its  form  is  pentagonal,  with  summit 
admeasurements  as  follows  :  length  of  northern  side,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet ;  length  of  eastern  side,  one 
hundred  and  sixty  feet ;  length  of  southeastern  side, 
one  hundred  feet ;  length  of  southern  side,  ninety  feet, 
and  length  of  western  side,  one  hundred  feet.  Meas- 
ured east  and  west,  its  longest  apex  diameter  is  two 
hundred  and  twenty-five  feet;  measured  north  and 
south,  it  falls  a  little  short — being  about  two  hundred 
and  twenty  feet.  On  its  summit,  this  tumulus  is  nearly 
level.  Shorn  of  the  luxuriant  vegetation  and  tall  forest- 
trees  which  at  one  time  crowned  it  on  every  side,  the 
outlines  of  this  mound  stand  in  bold  relief.  Its  angles 
are  still  sharply  defined.  The  established  approach  to 
the  top  is  from  the  east.  Its  ascent  was  accomplished 
through  the  intervention  of  terraces,  rising  one  above 
the  other — inclined  planes  leading  from  the  one  to  the 
other.1  These  terraces  are  sixty-five  feet  in  width,  and 
extend  from  the  mound  toward  the  southeast.  Near 
the  eastern  angle,  a  pathway  leads  to  the  top ;  but  it 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  intended  for  very  gen- 
eral use.  May  it  not  have  been  designed  for  the  priest- 
hood alone,  while,  assembled  ujwn  the  broad  terraces, 
the  worshippers  gave  solemn  heed  to  the  religious 
ceremonies  performed  upon  the  eastern  summit  of  this 
ancient  temple  % 

East  of  this  large  central  mound — and  so  near  that 
their  flanks  meet  and  mingle — stands  a  smaller  mound 
about  thirty-five  feet  high,  originally  quadrangular, 
now  nearly  circular  in  form,  and  with  a  summit  diame- 
ter of  one  hundred  feet.  From  its  western  slope  is  an 
easy  and  immediate  communication  with  the  terraces  of 

1  These  inclined  planes  have  been  considerably  worn  away  by  the  elements,  so 
that  this  main  approach  reminds  the  observer  of  a  broad,  winding  ramp. 


MOUNDS    IN   THE   ETOWAH    VALLEY.  139 

the  central  tumulus.  This  mound  is  designated  in 
the  accompanying  plate  by  the  letter  B.  Two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet  in  a  westerly  direction  from  this 
mound,  and  distant  some  sixty  feet  in  a  southerly  di- 
rection from  the  central  mound,  is  the  third  (C)  and 
last  of  this  immediate  group.  Pentagonal  in  form,  it 
possesses  an  altitude  of  twenty-three  feet.  It  is  uni- 
formly level  at  the  top,  and  its  apex  diameters,  meas- 
ured at  right  angles,  were,  respectively,  ninety-two  and 
sixty-eight  feet. 

East  of  this  group,  and  within  the  enclosure,  is  a 
chain  of  four  sepulchral  mounds  (F  F  F  F)  ovoidal 
in  shape.  Little  individual  interest  attaches  to  them. 
Nothing,  aside  from  their  location  in  the  vicinity  of 
these  larger  tumuli  and  their  being  within  the  area 
formed  by  the  canal  and  the  river,  distinguishes  them 
from  numerous  earth-mounds  scattered  here  and  there 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  Etowah  and 
Oostenaula  Valleys. 

The  artificial  elevation  E,  lying  northwest  of  the 
central  group,  is  remarkable  for  its  superficial  area, 
and  is  completely  surrounded  by  the  moat  which,  at 
that  point,  divides  with  a  view  to  its  enclosure.  The 
slope  of  the  sides  of  these  tumuli  is  just  such  as  would 
be  assumed  by  gradual  accretions  of  earth  successively 
deposited  in  small  quantities  from  above. 

The  summits  of  these  mounds,  and  the  circumjacent 
valley  for  miles,  have  been  completely  denuded  of  the 
original  growth  which  overspread  them  in  rich  profu- 
sion. The  consequence  is,  these  remarkable  remains 
can  be  readily  and  carefully  noted. 

We  marvel  at  the  amount  of  labor  expended  in 
their  construction,  and  conjecture  that  they  are  either 
the  product  of  the  combined  energies  of  a  population 


140  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

by  no  means  inconsiderable,  or  else  the  representatives 
of  the  successive  industry  of  perhaps  several  genera- 
tions. Of  one  fact  we  may  be  persuaded,  that  there 
was  not,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  a  single  Indian 
tribe  in  this  vicinity  possessing  either  the  disposition 
or  the  means  of  subsistence  sufficient  to  enable  it  to 

V  apply  the  unproductive  labor  necessary  for  the  erec- 
tion of  such  works.  Nor  were  the  Cherokees  in  such 
a  social  or  political  status  as  would  have  empowered 
their  chiefs  to  have  compelled  such  an  expenditure 
of  the  physical  energies  of  their  nations.  Nomadic 
tribes,  relying  upon  the  bow  and  arrow  for  subsist- 
ence, and  changing  their  seats  under  the  influences 
of  want  and  inclination,  are  loath  to  assume  the  erec- 
tion of  such  huge  earth-works.  We  have  the  positive 
testimony  of  the  Cherokees,  that  they  had  not  even  a 
tradition  of  the  race  by  whom  these  tumuli  had  been 
reared.  During  the  period  of  our  acquaintance  with 
them  idol-worship  did  not  exist  among  the  Chero- 
kees ;  and  yet  within  this  enclosure  three  stone  idols 
have  been  found,  and  numerous  terra-cotta  images 
fashioned  after  the  similitude  of  man,  beast,  and  bird. 
Of  these  stone  idols  it  may  be  remarked,  in  passing, 
that  two  were  cut  from  a  dark  sandstone,  were  respec- 
tively twelve  and  fifteen  inches  in  height,  and  repre- 
sented the  male  human  figure  in  a  sitting  posture — 
the  knees  drawn  up  almost  irpon  a  level  with  the  chin, 

•  the  hands  resting  upon  either  knee.  The  third,  and 
the  most  carefully-sculptured  Indian  idol  the  writer 
has  ever  seen,  was  a  female  figure  made  of  a  dark 
talcose  slate.  As,  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  our  atten- 
tion will  be  specially  directed  to  a  somewhat  careful 
examination  of  these  and  kindred  antique  images,  and 
also  to  an  inquiry  into  the  nature  and  extent  of  idol- 


STONE-IMAGES.  141 

worship  as  practised  by  the  Southern  Indians  at  a  re- 
mote period,  a  more  extended  notice  of  these  interest- 
ing relics  is  here  pretermitted. 

Outliving  the  generations  during  which  they  were 
fashioned  and  perhaps  invested  with  supernatural  pow- 
ers, and  surviving  the  incoming  and  the  outgoing  of 
subsequent  nomadic  tribes,  these  stone  images  pre- 
serve the  peculiar  forms  and  expressions  which  were 
in  that  age  of  shadows  traced  by  the  hand  of  semi-civil- 
ized art  upon  the  shapeless  stone,  and  declare  the 
former  existence  of  peoples  whose  names  are  unknown, 
whose  origin  is  the  subject  of  mere  conjecture,  and 
whose  history  and  customs  are  perpetuated  simply 
by  a  few  scattered  remains  which,  in  the  deluge  of 
time,  like  floating  plants  have  escaped  the  general 
shipwreck. 

Unique  specimens  of  idol-pipes,  stone  plates,  large 
shell  ornaments,  and  other  relics  not  common  among 
f  the  Cherokees,  confirm  the  impression  that  these  tumuli 
were  not  the  results  of  the  labor  of  the  modern  In- 
dians. The  large  trees  which  grew  upon  these  mounds 
when  they  were  first  visited  by  'the  early  settlers,  and 
their  utterly  abandoned  condition  at  the  period  of  our 
primal  acquaintance  with  them,  add  forcible  testi- 
mony in  behalf  of  their  decided  antiquity.  The  great 
age  of  these  structures  is  further  demonstrated  by  the 
character  of  the  works  themselves,  which  are  not  the 
hastily-erected  monuments  of  migrating  bands,  but 
the  ruins  of  temples,  areas,  and  burial-places,  carefully 
considered,  of  massive  dimensions,  and  indicating  the 
consecutive,  combined,  and  extensive  labor  of  a  consid- 
erable population  permanently  established. 

The  eastern  angle  of  the  central  mound  is  very 
prominent,  and  the  upper  surface  in  that  direction  is 


142  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

more  elevated.  Just  here  have  been  found  traces  of 
hearths  or  altars,  giving  ample  token  of  the  continued 
presence  of  fire  and  perhaps  of  sacrifice.  The  terraces 
lie  toward  the  east,  and  there  is  that  about  this  tumu- 
lus which  induces  the  belief  that  it  was  erected  for 
religious  purposes,  and  that  upon  its  eastern  summit 
religious  rites  were  performed  and  oblations  offered  to 
the  great  divinity,  the  sun.  The  broad  terraces  and 
the  adjacent  dependent  tumuli  afforded  space  for  the 
assembling  of  worshippers  at  the  appointed  hour, 
when,  from  the  elevated  eastern  summit  of  the  large 
tumulus,  the  eye  of  the  officiating  priest  caught  the 
earliest  rays  of  the  rising  sun,  as,  lifting  his  face  from 
out  the  shadows  of  the  distant  hills,  he  smiled  upon 
this  beautiful  valley. 

In  the  true  relation  of  the  vicissitudes  which  at- 
tended the  Governor  Don  Hernando  de  Soto  and  some 
nobles  of  Portugal  in  the  discovery  of  the  province  of 
Florida,1  we  are  informed  by  the  Gentleman  of  Elvas, 
that  "  on  Wednesday,  the  nineteenth  day  of  June,  the 
Governor  entered  Pacaha,  and  took  quarters  in  the 
town  where  the  Cacique  was  accustomed  to  reside.  It 
was  enclosed,  and  very  large.  In  the  towers  and  the 
palisade  were  many  loopholes.  There  was  much  dry 
maize,  and  the  new  was  in  great  quantity  throughout 
the  fields.  At  the  distance  of  half  a  league  to  a  league 
off,  were  large  towns,  all  of  them  surrounded  with 
stockades.  Where  the  Governor  stayed  was  a  great  lake 
near  to  the  enclosure ;  and  the  water  entered  a  ditch 
that  well-nigh  went  round  the  town.  From  the  Eiver 
Grande  to  the  lake  was  a  canal,  through  which  the  fish 
came  into  it,  and  where  the  Chief  kept  them  for  his 

1  Buckingham  Smith's  translation,  pp.  112,  113.      Bradford  Club  Series,  Xo. 
5.     New  York,  1866. 


FISH-PEESERVES.  143 

eating  and  pastime.  With  nets  that  were  found  in 
the  place,  as  many  were  taken  as  need  required ;  and 
however  much  might  be  the  casting,  there  was  never 
any  lack  of  them.  .  .  .  The  Cacique  of  Casqui  many 
times  sent  large  presents  of  fish,  shawls,  and  skins." 

While  the  earth  removed  in  the  construction  of 
the  ditch  and  excavations  was  primarily  employed  in 
the  erection  of  the  tumuli  within  the  enclosure,  while 
they  may  in  one  sense  be  regarded  as  the  sources  of 
the  mounds,  and  while  their  sizes  and  depths  were,  to 
a  certain  extent,  regulated  by  the  supply  of  material 
requisite  for  the  completion  of  the  projected  truncated 
pyramid — which  we  suppose  to  have  been  a  temple — 
and  its  dependent  mounds,  we  are  of  opinion  that,  dur- 
ing the  progress  of  the  entire  work,  direct  reference 
was  had  to  the  final  use  of  these  excavations  and 
of  this  canal  as  fish-preserves,  whence  the  priests,  ca- 
ciques, and  noted  personages  of  the  nation,  who  prob- 
ably dwelt  within  the  enclosure  formed  by  the  moat 
and  the  river,  could  at  all  seasons  derive  an  abun- 
dant supply  of  fish.  The  canal  leading  from  the  ar- 
tificial pond  in  which  it  takes  its  rise,  communicates 
directly  with  both  reservoirs,  and,  after  passing  them, 
empties  into  the  Etowah.  Through  this  canal  fishes 
could  have  been  readily  introduced  from  the  river  into 
all  three  of  these  artificial  lakes,  and  there  propagated. 
Cane  or  wooden  wears — in  such  common  use  among 
the  Southern  Indians  during  the  sixteenth  century — 
would  have  prevented  all  escape,  and  thus  these  reser- 
voirs would  have  answered  the  purposes  of  fish-pre- 
serves.     Such  we  believe  them  to  have  been. 

In  the  retired  valley  of  Little  Shoulder-Bone  Creek, 
about  nine  miles  from  the  village  of  Sparta,  in  Han- 
cock County,  may  be  seen  another  group  of  ancient 


144  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN  INDIANS. 

tumuli,1  not  unlike  those  we  have  just  examined.  Of 
the  date  of  their  construction,  and  of  the  peoples  by 
whom  they  were  erected,  the  Creeks  and  Cherokees 
professed  utter  ignorance.  To  the  oft-repeated  inquiry 
who  were  the  authors  of  these  monuments  and  when 
were  they  built,  the  uniform  response  of  the  red-men 
was,  "We  know  not;  our  fathers  found  them  here 
when  they  first  possessed  the  land." 

From  all  these  mounds  the  original  forest-growth 
has  been  removed,  and  we  are  therefore  denied  the  in- 
formation which  would  be  derived  from  an  examina- 
tion of  the  cortical  layers  of  the  venerable  trees  which 
formerly  grew  upon  and  overshadowed  them  after 
their  abandonment  by  those  to  whose  labors  their  ex- 
istence was  due.  Here  and  there  upon  their  summits 
still  exist  mouldering  stumps  and  roots,  affording 
ample  proof  of  the  vigor  and  proportions  of  that 
growth  which  the  industry  of  a  later  race  has  carefully 
removed. 

Approaching  this  series  of  tumuli  from  the  west, 
the  first  which  engages  our  attention  (designated  in  the 
accompanying  sketch  by  the  letter  G),  in  general  out- 
line nearly  resembles  a  truncated  cone ;  being  slightly 
ovoidal,  and  with  summit-diameters,  measured  east 
and  west,  and  north  and  south,  of,  respectively,  fifty- 
two  and  forty-two  feet.  Its  base-diameter,  running 
east  and  west,  is  one  hundred  and  forty  feet.  Meas- 
ured at  right  angles,  it  falls  a  little  short  of  this. 
Its  present  altitude  is  sixteen  feet. 

One  hundred  and  fifty  yards  east  of  this  mound  is 
the  largest  tumulus  of  the  group  (C).  It  is  a  trun- 
cated, pentagonal  pyramid,  its  base-diameters,  meas- 
ured north  and  south,  and  east  and  west,  being  respec- 

1  Plate  II. 


Ilale  II. 


300  yttrbi 


J/H  PHOTO  LITHOGRAPHIC  CO  NY.(OSBO*N£S  PDOCESS  ) 


TUMULI   NEAR    SPARTA,    GEORGIA.  145 

tively  one  hundred  and  eighty  and  one  hundred  and 
eighty-four  feet.  Its  summit-diameters,  ascertained  in 
the  same  directions,  are  respectively  eighty  and  eighty- 
eight  feet.     This  mound  is  forty  feet  high. 

By  a  reference  to  its  profile  (L),  it  will  be  per- 
ceived that  it  is  higher  toward  the  east.  The  approach 
to  the  summit  was  from  the  east,  and  the  eastern  third 
of  the  superior  surface  was  not  only  elevated  above 
the  rest,  but  was  also  made  scrupulously  level.  Here, 
a  little  below  the  surface,  have  been  found  traces  of  a 
hearth  composed  of  baked  clay  or  rude  brick.  Charred 
fragments  of  wood  and  other  indications  attest  the 
former  continued  existence  of  tires  upon  this  spot. 

Considerable  excavations  have  been  made  in  the 
eastern  slope.  Composed,  as  it  is,  of  the  alluvial  soil 
of  the  valley,  the  planters  of  the  neighboring  hills 
(entirely  ignoring  the  claims  of  this  ancient  monu- 
ment to  preservation  and  respect — we  had  almost 
added  veneration — at  the  hands  of  a  utilitarian  age), 
in  by-gone  years  frequently  resorted  to  it  as  a  conven- 
ient source  of  fertilization  for  their  impoverished  lands. 

This  tumulus,  so  august  in  its  proportions,  has  in 
its  construction  derived  no  aid  from  any  natural  hill 
or  elevation.  It  stands  apart,  and  in  the  midst  of  a 
level  valley.  The  slope  of  the  sides  is  just  such  as 
would  be  assumed  by  the  gradual  accumulation  of 
loose  earth  deposited  from  above. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  the  Indians  used  the 
summit  and  sides  of  this  tumulus  for  the  purposes  of 
sepulture.  Skeletons  have  been  found  near  the  surface, 
in  a  degree  of  preservation  and  possessing  certain  in- 
dicia which  forbid  the  belief  that  their  inhumation 
was  coeval  with  the  construction  of  the  mound. 

The  tumuli  D,  E,  and  F,  appear  to  have  been  de- 


146  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEEN    INDIANS. 

signed  and  used  exclusively  as  burial-mounds.  For  so 
many  years  have  they  been  traversed  by  the  plough- 
share, and  wasted  by  the  winds  and  rains,  that  they 
have  doubtless  lost  much  of  their  original  proportions. 
Their  surfaces  are  covered  with  fragments  of  human 
bones,  and  pottery,  beads,  arrow  and  spear  heads, 
stone  implements,  stone  ornaments,  pipes,  clay  images, 
etc.,  etc. 

The  mounds  C,  D,  and  E,  are  isolated  by  a  moat  or 
ditch,  indicated  by  the  letters  B  B.  The  total  area 
thus  enclosed  is  between  four  and  five  acres.  An 
additional  ditch  separates  the  mound  E  from  the 
other  two ;  and,  at  the  point  H,  are  traces  of  an  exca- 
vation or  reservoir,  from  which  a  third  ditch  (K) 
leads  to  an  adjacent  small  creek  or  stream  emptying 
into  Little  Shoulder-Bone  Creek.  The  earth  taken 
from  these  moats  or  ditches,  and  removed  in  digging 
the  reservoir,  was  expended  in  the  erection  of  the  tu- 
muli. There  are  no  indications  of  embankments  along 
their  edges.  All  trace  of  this  moat  will  soon  disap- 
pear, and  marked  changes  have  already  occurred  with- 
in the  recollection  of  the  older  inhabitants. 

Within  the  enclosure,  stone  idols — similar  in  ap- 
pearance to  those  found  in  the  valley  of  the  Etowah — 
and  clay  images,  resembling  the  human  form  in  dis- 
torted shape  and  feature,  and  fashioned  after  the  simili- 
tude of  beasts  and  birds,  have  been  gathered. 

The  fact  has  been  distinctly  attested  by  early  travel- 
lers, that  the  Indians  of  this  region  never  worshipped 
idols.  We  have  the  further  testimony  that  they  not 
only  never  manufactured  these  symbols  of  pagan  wor- 
ship, but  emphatically  disclaimed  all  knowledge  of  the 
people  by  whom  they  were  made.  Who,  then,  were 
these  mound-builders,  and  who  the  artificers  that  chis- 


TUMULI   NEAR    SPARTA,    GEORGIA.  147 

elled  these  rude  stone  images  which  did  not  fall  down 
from  Jupiter  ? 

Every  indication  suggests  and  encourages  the  be- 
lief that  this  locality  was,  for  a  long  period  of  time, 
densely  populated.  The  surface  of  the  ground,  not 
only  within  the  enclosure,  but  up  and  down  the  val- 
ley for  a  considerable  distance,  is  replete  with  various 
relics.  They  lie  also,  in  considerable  quantities,  com- 
mingled with  human  bones,  in  the  sepulchral  mounds. 
Few  and  unsatisfactory  are  the  memories  which  they 
suggest.  Feeble  indicia  of  general  customs,  they  do 
little  else  than  furnish  physical  proofs  of  the  former 
existence  of  nameless  peoples  who,  living  without  let- 
ters, have  left  behind  them  no  legacies  to  history. 

The  surface  of  the  enclosure — saving  the  presence 
of  tli3  mounds — is  very  level,  and  from  it  have  been 
carefully  removed  all  stones,  bowlders,  and  fragments 
of  rock,  with  which  other  portions  of  the  valley  and 
the  adjoining  hill-sides  abound. 

On  Plunkett  Creek,  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
distant,  is  a  mound  twelve  feet  high,  with  a  summit- 
diameter  of  forty  feet  and  a  base-diameter  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  feet.  It  is  conical  in  shape,  and 
its  principal  elevation  is  toward  the  east.  Unlike  the 
other  tumuli  in  this  valley,  the  present  mound  is 
mainly  composed  of  fragments  of  rocks  and  stones ; 
and,  apart  from  this  fact,  possesses  no  distinguishing 
peculiarity.     Its  profile  is  shown  in  Fig.  2,  Plate  II. 

Intermediate  between  this  mound  and  the  group 
which  we  have  been  considering,  is  an  enclosed  work, 
parallelogrammic  in  outline,  containing  an  acre  and  a 
quarter.  The  ditch  surrounding  it  is  some  four  feet 
wide,  and  between  three  and  four  feet  deep.  {See  Fig. 
3,  Plate  II.) 


14S  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

Upon  the  head-waters  of  the  Great  Ogeechee  Kiv- 
er,  five  miles  from  Sparta,  is  an  earth-work,  circular  in 
form,  with  a  gate  or  opening  terminating  at  the  creek. 
The  embankment  is  still  nearly  three  feet  high,  and 
upon  it  are  growing  trees  as  large  and,  to  all  appear- 
ances, as  old  as  any  in  the  surrounding  forest.  {See 
Fig.  4,  Plate  II.) 

The  belief  is  current  in  the  neighborhood,  that  this 
work  was  an  intrenched  camp  of  De  Soto,  but  there  is 
no  satisfactory  foundation  for  this  impression. 

Located  upon  a  high,  rugged  ridge,  three  miles 
from  Sparta,  and  in  a  direction  opposite  to  that  which 
led  us  to  the  so-called  "  Spanish  Fort,"  are  the  remains 
of  a  stone  tumulus  originally  fifteen  feet  high,  and 
twelve  feet  in  diameter  at  its  base,  nearly  resembling 
a  sugar-loaf  in  form.  It  was  composed  exclusively  of 
fragments  of  rocks,  carefully  piled  one  above  the  other. 
A  few  years  since  a  planter,  moved  by  curiosity,  un- 
dertook the  removal  of  this  mound.  The  labor  was  but 
partially  accomplished,  and  the  only  result  attained 
was  the  almost  total  demolition  of  this  unique  little 
tumulus.     {See  Fig.  5,  Plate  II.) 

Tradition  designates  "  Silver  Bluff,"  or  its  vicinity, 
as  the  site  of  the  ancient  village  of  Cutifachiqui. 
There,  if  we  rightly  interpret  the  geography  of  the 
Fidalgo  of  Elvas,  dwelt  an  Indian  queen,  young  and 
attractive,  who  with  royal  hospitality  welcomed  to  her 
capital  and  the  freedom  of  her  nation  the  adventu- 
rous De  Soto  and  his  daring  companions,  lone  wander- 
ing and  yet  not  lost  amid  the  unbroken  forests  and 
howling  wildernesses  of  a  vast  region  hitherto  un- 
trodden by  the  white  man.  The  historian  of  the  ex- 
pedition dwells  at  length  and  with  evident  satisfaction 
upon  the  reception  extended  by  this  Indian  queen  to 


THE    CACICA    OF    CCTIFACIIIQn.  149 

the  knightly  Ferdinand.  Learning  from  three  captives 
that  a  woman  held  the  sovereignty  of  this  country, 
the  General  sent  forward  special  messengers  to  her 
with  offers  of  friendship.  Her  response  of  welcome 
was  returned  by  her  sister  in  person.  Shortly  after- 
ward the  queen  appeared  in  a  stately  canoe,  with  an 
awning  in  the  poop  supported  by  a  lance.  She  sat 
upon  two  cushions,  and  was  accompanied  by  a  number 
of  Indian  women — her  attendants  and  maids  of  honor. 
Many  escorting  canoes  followed.  Invested  with  all 
the  pomp  and  dignity  which  the  limited  resources  of 
her  age  and  race  could  throw  around  her,  she  crossed 
the  Savannah  River  and  approached  the  bank  where 
the  Spanish  Cfevalier  waited  to  receive  her.  Respond- 
ing with  ease,  grace,  and  fervor,  to  his  handsome  ad- 
dress, she  landed  and  conferred  upon  him  many  pres- 
ents— among  theni  a  pearl  necklace,  the  beads  of  which 
are  particularly  mentioned  as  of  great  value  and  re- 
markable size.  The  next  day  the  expedition  crossed 
the  Savannah  River  in  canoes  and  on  rafts,  and  found 
rest,  food,  and  refreshment,  in  the  wigwams  and  be- 
neath the  wide-spreading  mulberry-trees  of  the  chosen 
town  of  the  cacica. 

Upon  the  eve  of  his  departure,  De  Soto  arrested 
the  queen  and  forced  her  to  accompany  him  on  his  for- 
ward march  to  Chiaha.  For  seven  long  days  was  she 
compelled  to  travel  on  foot  through  a  wretched  coun- 
try, and  it  was  not  until  the  eighth  day  that  she  suc- 
ceeded in  making  her  escape.  During  this  unwilling 
journey  with  the  Spaniards  she  is  said  to  have  carried 
a  casket  made  of  reeds,  containing  pearls  of  great 
value.  These  she  preserved,  and  so  apt  did  she  prove 
in  concealing  herself  within  the  shadows  of  her  native 
forests,  that  she  completely  eluded  the  pursuit  of  the 


150  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

Spaniards,  who  were  most  desirous  of  retaining  her  as 
a  hostage  for  their  safe  conduct  through  the  territories 
of  the  neighboring  cassiques  who  rendered  homage 
to  her.1  The  narrative  leaves  her  in  the  wilds  of  an 
unknown  forest  returning  to  her  people  and  chosen 
abode;  and  it  may  be  that  one  of  the  rude  earth- 
mounds  which  tower  along  its  banks,  designates  the 
last  resting-place  of  the  beautiful,  the  hospitable,  the 
ill-treated  queen  of  the  Savannah. 

No  storied  urn  or  monumental  bust,  no  epitaph 
deeply  graven  on  enduring  marble,  no  sepulchral  col- 
umn, perpetuates  her  memory  or  her  greatness ;  and 
yet  certain  tumuli,  sternly  wrestling  with  all-subduing 
time,  lonely  and  voiceless  in  this  generation,  even  now 
repeat  the  story  of  the  Indian  queen,  whose  cordial 
welcome  of  and  generous  hospitality  to  the  adventu- 
rous, travel-worn  stranger,  were  requited  by  unkind- 
ness,  ingratitude,  and  dishonor. 

In  1776,  Mr.  Bartram  states  that  there  were  in 
this  vicinity  what  he  is  pleased  to  denominate  Indian 
conical  mounts,  terraces,  and  areas,  and  also  the  re- 
mains or  traces  of  fortresses  which  were  supposed  to 
be  ancient  camps  of  the  Spaniards,  who  formerly  fixed 
themselves  at  this  place  in  the  hope  of  finding  silver.3 

Four  years  afterward,  to  the  local  history  of  this 
region  another  chapter  was  added,  whose  incidents, 
authentic  in  their  character,  furnish  a  bright  illustra- 
tion of  those  partisan  adventures  and  patriotic  exploits 
which  not  ^infrequently  signalized  the  conduct  of  the 
Southern  campaign  in  the  days  of  the  good  and  great 
General  Greene. 

1  Roberts'  "Florida,"  pp.  47,  48.  London,  1763.  "  Narratives  of  the  Career 
of  Hernando  de  Soto,"  translated  by  Buckingham  Smith,  p.  62.,  et  scq.  New 
York,  1866. 

"Travels,"  etc.,  p.  313.     London,  1792. 


CAPTURE  OF  FORT  GALPHIX.  151 

The  annual  royal  present  to  the  Indians,  consisting 
of  powder,  ball,  small-arms,  liquor,  salt,  blankets,  and 
other  articles  of  which  the  impoverished  Continentals 
stood  most  sadly  in  need,  was,  in  May,  1780,  on  de- 
posit at  Fort  Galphin,  about  twelve  miles  below  Au- 
gusta, on  the  north  side  of  the  Savannah  River,  await- 
ing distribution.  Colonel  Brown's  force  at  Augusta 
had  been  reduced  by  the  detail  of  two  companies  of 
infantry,  detached  to  guard  this  present.  They  were 
at  that  time  stationed  in  the  Stockade  Fort  at  this 
point.  Made  aware  of  this  fact  through  the  vigilance 
of  his  scouts,  carefully  concealing  his  movement,  and 
leaving  his  artillery  and  the  tired  of  his  battalion  be- 
hind under  command  of  Eaton,  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Lee  determined  to  press  forward  at  once  and  secure 
these  much-coveted  supplies  for  the  American  camp. 
Mounting  a  detachment  of  infantry  behind  his  dra- 
goons, by  forced  marches  and  without  the  knowledge 
of  the  enemy,  on  the  21st  of  May,  1780,  he  halted  his 
panting  squadrons  beneath  the  pines  which  skirted 
the  field  in  which  Fort  Galphin  was  located.  The  day 
was  excessively  sultry,  and  men  and  animals  were  so 
oppressed  by  heat  and  overcome  by  thirst,  that  his  lit- 
tle column  was  for  the  time  incapable  of  further  exer- 
tion. 

After  a  short  rest,  Colonel  Lee  directed  his  dis- 
mounted militia  to  make,  unobserved,  the  circuit  of 
the  fort,  and  to  attack  it  from  a  point  opposite  to  that 
which  he  then  occupied.  This  strategy  was  invoked 
under  the  impression  that  the  garrison  would  be  drawn 
from  the  fort  in  the  pursuit  of  these  few  militiamen, 
and  thus  its  capture,  by  a  rapid  assault  under  his  im- 
mediate supervision,  insured  beyond  a  question.  As 
was  expected,  so  soon  as  the  militia  debouched  from 


152  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

the  woods,  the  garrison  flew  to  arms,  and,  rushing  from 
the  forfc,  pursued  the  militia,  who,  at  first  resisting 
feebly,  quickly  retired — their  retreat  being  covered  by 
some  cavalry  previously  disposed  for  that  purpose. 
At  this  juncture  a  rapid  advance  under  Captain  Ru- 
dolph  was  ordered,  and  the  assaulting  column  easily 
gained  possession  of  the  fort. 

In  the  Ian2;ua2;e  of  the  author  of  the  "  Memoirs  of 
the  War  in  the  Southern  Department,"  "  the  garrison, 
with  the  valuable  deposit  in  its  safe  keeping,  gave  a 
rich  reward  for  our  toils  and  sufferings." ' 

An  old  brick  house  still  stands  which  witnessed  the 
prowess  of  the  gallant  cavalry  colonel  and  his  brave 
troopers  on  that  sultry  May  morning. 

But  it  is  not  of  this  old  brick  house  with  its  Revolu- 
tionary memories,  nor  of  the  bright  blade  of  the  Vir- 
ginia chieftain,  that  we  speak.  It  is  not  our  purpose  to 
pursue  the  track  of  the  Spanish  expedition,  or  to  recount 
the  traditions  of  the  locality.  Our  object  is  simply  to 
chronicle  the  existence  and  perpetuate  the  recollection 
of  the  prominent  physical  peculiarities  of  a  marked 
group  of  ancient  tumuli  resting  upon  the  left  bank  of 
the  Savannah  River,  some  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  by 
water  below  the  city  of  Augusta.  Thirty-five  years 
ago  this  group  numbered  six  mounds,  but  the  restless 
river,  with  recurring  freshets,  encroaching  steadily  upon 
the  Carolina  shore,  has  already  rolled  its  turbid  waters 
over  two  of  them,  while  other  two  have  so  far  yielded 
to  the  levelling  influences  of  the  ploughshare  as  to  be 
almost  entirely  obliterated.  Consequently  but  two  re- 
main, and  they  only  in  major  part,  one-third  of  each 
having  been  washed  away  by  the  current ;  and  the  day 
is  probably  not  far  distant  when  tradition  only  will 

1  Vol.  ii.,  p.  89,  d  sag.     Philadelphia,  1812. 


7" late  Iff. 


3  oo  feet 


300  y  cirri s 


AM-  PHOTO  LITHOGRAPHIC  CO  N  T  ,  oSBOHHtT,  fffOCCSS.^ 


153 

designate  the  spot  once  memorable  in  the  annals  of  a 
former  race  as  the  site  of  monuments  of  unusual  size 
and  interest. 

These  tumuli  are  located  on  Mason's  Plantation, 
upon  the  very  edge  of  the  Savannah  Kiver,  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  wide,  deep  swamp,  which  here  on  either 
bank  stretches  away  for  miles,  exhibiting  one  uniform, 
level,  alluvial  surface.  What  was  once  a  mighty  forest, 
grand  and  impenetrable  in  its  majestic  trees  and  tan- 
gled brakes,  is  now  a  rich  cornfield  whose  harvests 
have  for  many  years  with  a  yield  of  a  hundred-fold 
rewarded  the  toil  qf  the  intelligent  husbandman.  The 
surrounding  space  being  thus  denuded  of  its  original 
growth,  the  tumuli  loom  up  in  uninterrupted  propor- 
tions, while  from  the  river,  which  has  wellnio-h  cut 
them  in  twain,  the  observer  enjoys  a  most  favorable 
opportunity,  as  presented  by  their  perpendicular  fronts, 
for  closely  examining  their  physical  composition.  Fresh- 
ets have  performed  what  it  would  have  required  long 
days  of  toil  to  have  accomplished,  and  even  then  the 
work  would  not  have  been  done  half  so  well.  It  is  sad 
to  realize,  however,  that  these  encroachments  which  at 
present  bring  hidden  things  to  view,  and  enable  the 
examiner  to  pursue  his  investigations  with  facility,  are 
dooming  the  objects  themselves  to  early  and  absolute 
annihilation.  Some  forest-trees,  chiefly  beech  and  lo- 
cust, still  crown  the  summits  and  flanks  of  these  frag- 
mentary mounds  trembling  upon  the  brink  of  the  re- 
morseless river. 

The  largest  tumulus,  designated  in  the  accompany- 
ing sketch  by  the  letter  A  (Plate  III.),  rises  thirty- 
seven  feet  above  the  plain,  and  forty-seven  above  the 
water-line  as  it  existed  at  the  date  of  this  visit.  Meas- 
ured east  and  west,  its  summit  diameter  was  fifty-eight 


154  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

feet,  while,  in  consequence  of  the  encroachment  of  the 
river,  when  measured  in  a  northerly  and  southerly 
direction,  it  fell  a  little  short  of  thirty-eight  feet.  Its 
base-diameter,  ascertained  in  an  easterly  and  west- 
wardly  direction,  was  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  feet. 
Although  its  outlines  have  been  somewhat  marred  by 
the  whirling  eddies  of  the  river,  as  its  swelling  waters, 
in  the  spring  of  the  year  gathering  marvellous  volume 
and  impetus,  have  again  and  again  swept  by,  inundat- 
ing the  entire  swamp-region,  this  tumulus  may  be 
truthfully  described  as  a  truncated  cone — its  sides 
sloping  gently  and  evenly,  and  its  apex  surface  level. 
If  terraces  ever  existed,  they  are  no  longer  apparent. 
The  western  flank  of  this  mound  was  extended  for  a 
distance  some  twenty  yards  or  more  beyond  the  point 
where  it  would  otherwise  have  terminated,  respect  be- 
ins:  had  to  the  configuration  of  the  eastern  and  south- 
em  slopes.  About  two  feet  below  the  present  surface 
of  this  extension  is  a  continuous  layer  of  charcoal, 
baked  earth,  ashes,  broken  pottery,  shells,  and  bones. 
This  layer  is  about  twelve  inches  thick.  So  far  as  our 
examination  extended — and  it  was  but  partial — the 
admixture  of  human  bones  was  very  slight — the  bones, 
of  which  there  were  vast  numbers,  consisting  of  those  of 
animals  and  birds  native  to  this  region.  One  is  at  a 
loss  to  explain  the  existence  of  this  stratum  of  charcoal, 
ashes,  shells,  fragmentary  pottery  and  bones,  unless 
upon  the  hypothesis  that  it  comprises  the  debris  of  a 
long-seated  encampment  or  permanent  abode  of  the 
aborigines  upon  this  little  bhrff.  This  stratum  can  be 
traced  along  the  water-front  of  the  mound,  as  though 
it  existed  prior  to  its  construction.  The  superincum- 
bent mass  of  earth  seems  to  have  been  heaped  above  it. 
Where  it  penetrates  the  tumulus,  it  is  wellnigh  coinci- 


TUMULI    ON   MASON'S   PLANTATION.  155 

dent  with  a  prolongation  of  what  was  at  the  time  the 
surface  of  the  surrounding  swamp. 

The  mound  itself  is  composed  of  the  alluvium  of 
the  adjacent  field,  which  is  a  micaceous  clay,  richly 
impregnated  with  vegetable  mould.  No  traces  of  in- 
humation could  be  perceived,  and  the  composition  of 
the  tumulus  was  homogeneous*  as  far  as  ascertained. 

It  is  earnestly  hoped  that  some  one  will  carefully 
note  from  time  to  time  the  encroachments  of  the  river, 
as  in  all  likelihood  the  central  portions  of  this  mound 
will  soon  be  laid  bare,  and  then,  its  contents,  if  any, 
will  be  fully  disclosed.  Thus  will  an  opportunity  be 
afforded  for  a  most  satisfactory  examination. 

One  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  due  east  of  this 
large  tumulus,  is  the  smaller  mound  designated  by  the 
letter  B.  Its  appearance,  general  outline  and  composi- 
tion, are  so  nearly  analogous  to  those  of  the  larger 
mound,  that  a  specific  description  is  scarcely  neces- 
sary. It  may  be  remarked,  however,  that,  possessing 
a  base-diameter  of  one  hundred  and  fourteen  feet,  it 
rises  fifteen  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  ground  and 
twenty-five  feet  above  the  level  of  the  river.1 

It  will  be  perceived  by  a  reference  to  the  accom- 
panying sketch  (Plate  III.),  that  these  tumuli  were,  in 
days  long  since  numbered  with  an  unrecorded  jDast, 
isolated  by  a  moat  (C  C),  whose  traces  are  still  quite 
observable.  The  enclosed  space — the  river  forming 
the  northern  boundary — contains  a  conjectured  area  of 
about  eight  acres.  Commencing  at  the  river,  east- 
wardly  of  the  smaller  mound  and  distant  from  its 
flank  some  thirty  yards,  this  ditch  extends  in  a  south- 
erly direction  until  it  merges  into  what  now  seems  to 

1  For  profiles  of  these  tumuli,  see  letters  F  and  G,  Plate  III.     The  water-line  i9 
represented  by  H. 


156  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

be  a  natural  lagoon  (D).  Following  this  in  a  westward- 
ly  course,  it  finally  leaves  it,  and  thence  runs  almost  due 
north  to  the  river  into  which  it  empties  at  a  remove  of 
about  eighty  yards  from  the  western  flank  of  the  larger 
tumulus.  Here  the  communication  with  the  river  is 
still  ])erfect,  but  the  upper  mouth  of  this  moat  is  now 
dry.  It  varies  in  width  from  twenty  to  forty  feet, 
and  is  in  some  parts  wider  still.1 

In  all  probability  the  earth  removed  in  the  con- 
struction of  this  canal  was  devoted  to  the  erection  of 
these  tumuli ;  and  there  are  here  and  there  in  their 
vicinity  physical  evidences  of  the  fact  that  the  sur- 
rounding soil  contributed  to  their  further  elevation. 
Terra-cotta  vases,  pots  and  pans,  arrow  and  sjjear 
heads,  stone  articles  of  use  and  ornament,  mortars, 
pipes,  and  bone  and  shell  beads,  are  found  in  the 
adjacent  fields,  but  there  lives  not  a  tradition  of  the 
time  when,  and  of  the  tribes  by  whom,  these  tumuli 
were  built.  Lonely,  storm-beaten,  freshet-torn,  they 
stand  nameless  and  without  a  history  in  this  genera- 
tion— silent,  yet  convincing  illustrations  of  the  ephem- 
eral character  of  the  nomadic  races  which  for  centuries 
peopled  this  entire  region,  and,  departing,  left  behind 
them  neither  letters  nor  monuments  of  art — nothing 
save  these  rude  earth-mounds  and  occasional  relics  to 
give  assurance  of  their  former  existence. 

In  the  twilight  of  what  by-gone  and  unrecorded 
century  were  these  tumuli  built  ?  Whence  came,  and 
who  the  peoples  that  lifted  them  from  out  the  bosom 
of  our  common  mother  %  Served  they  as  friendly  ref- 
uge in  seasons  of  freshet  and  of  storm  ?  Were  sacred 
fires  ever  kindled  upon  your  summits  and  within  this 
consecrated  area  ?     Within  your  hidden  depths  do  the 

1  This  also  may  Lave  been  a  fish-pre?erve. 


157 

brave  and  honored  of  your  generation  sleep  that  sleep 
which  knows  no  waking  until  the  final  trump  shall 
summon  alike  the  civilized  and  the  savage  to  the  last 
award  ?  Or  are  ye  simple  watch-towers,  deserted  of 
your  sentinels — forts,  abandoned  of  your  defenders? 
We  question,  but  there  are  no  voices  of  the  past  in 
the  ambient  air.  We  search  among  these  tombs,  but 
they  bear  no  epitaphs.  The  sacred  fires,  if  ever  kin- 
dled, were  turned  into  ashes  long  ago,  and  naught  but 
darkness  is  here.  We  gaze  upon  these  monuments, 
but  they  are  inscrrptionless,  and  the  Savannah  rolling 
its  swollen  waters  about  them  will  soon  sweep  even 
these  mute  earth-mounds  out  of  existence.  For  a  few 
short  moments  this  tawny-hued  river  will  grow  more 
turbid  with  the  dissolving  mass  of  native  clay,  and 
then,  borne  away  upon  its  bosom,  and  settling  darkly 
in  the  depths  of  this  swiftly-moving  stream,  nothing 
will  evermore  be  seen  of  these  august  witnesses  of  the 
memorable  meeting  between  the  Spanish  Adventurer 
and  the  Cacica  of  the  Savannah. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Tumuli  on  the  Ocmulgee  River,  opposite  Macon.— Brown's  Mount. — Mound  on 
Messier's  Plantation,  in  Early  County. 

Or  the  mounds  on  the  left  bank  of  the  OcmuVee 
River,  opposite  the  city  of  Macon,  the  largest  and  most 
noteworthy  (A,  Plate  IV.),  lying  farthest  down  the 
river,  is  located  npon  the  summit  of  a  natural  hill,  and 
occupies  a  commanding  j^osition.  The  earth  of  which 
it 'is  composed  was  gathered  in  the  valley  and  con- 
veyed to  the  top  of  the  hill  so  as,  in  the  end,  to  in- 
crease its  elevation  by  some  forty-five  or  fifty  feet. 
The  summit  diameters  of  this  tumulus,  measured  north 
and  south,  and  east  and  west,  are  respectively  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  and  two  hundred  feet.  On  the  west 
is  an  artificial  plateau,  still  about  eight  feet  high, 
seventy-two  feet  long  and  ninety-three  feet  wide.  On 
the  north  and  east  are  three  spurs  or  elevated  ap- 
proaches, over  which,  as  paths,  the  laborers,  during 
the  construction  of  the  mound,  carried  their  burdens 
of  sand  and  clay  in  cane  baskets,  and,  by  means  of 
which,  when  the  tumulus  was  completed,  ascent  to  its 
summit  was  rendered  more  facile.  It  is  not  improba- 
ble that  this  was  a  teniple-rnound,  used  by  priests  and 
devotees  in  their  established  worship  of  the  sun. 


/•/atell 


k 


600  y<u-os 


wWM 

"^aflle.  of  "ht«t*1v2L  JO 


"Profile/  cj  7710 un-3.  C. 


J*ro/iJ*  ^f  Tnoun^LA. . 


PHOTOLITHOGRAPHIC  CO   V  1    JiBOUHCS    PffOCf5S.) 


TUMULI   NEAR   MACON,    GEORGIA.  159 

One  hundred  feet  north  of  this  tumulus  is  a  second 
mound  (B)  about  ten  feet  high,  elliptical  in  shape, 
with  a  summit-diameter,  measured  in  the  direction  of 
the  major  axis,  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  feet. 
Northwest  of  this  mound  and  distant  between  three 
and  four  hundred  yards,  is  the  third  of  the  group  (C), 
its  outlines  marred  by  the  elements,  and  its  northern 
slope  carried  away  by  the  excavation  for  the  new  track 
of  the  Central  Railway.  It  is  still  about  forty  feet 
high  and  is  conical  in  form — its  mean  summit-diameter 
being  about  eighty-two  feet.  On  its  top  is  the  decayed 
stump  of  a  tree,  more  than  five  feet  thick. 

About  four  hundred  yards  in  a  northeasterly  direc- 
tion is  the  last  tumulus  of  this  series  (D).  In  general 
characteristics  it  closely  resembles  the  mound  last 
mentioned.  These  mounds  are  all  flat,  and  may  be 
described  as  truncated  cones,  with  the  exception  of  the 
temple-mound,  which  assimilates  the  form  of  an  oc- 
tagonal, truncated  pyramid.  The  temple-mound  was 
erected  for  religious  purposes  ;  the  others  were  heaped 
up,  probably,  in  honor  of  the  dead.  In  their  vicinity 
the  fields  are  filled  with  sherds,  shells  of  the  pearl- 
bearing  unio,  and  fragments  of  articles  of  ancient  do- 
mestic economy.  Upon  the  acclivity  east  of  the  cen- 
tral mound  are  the  manifest  remains  of  an  aboriginal 
settlement.  Here,  in  excavating  for  the  new  track  of 
the  Central  Railway,  the  workmen  a  short  time  since 
unearthed,  a  few  feet  below  the  surface,  several  skele- 
tons, in  connection  wTith  which  were  found  beads  of 
shell  and  porcelain,  a  part  of  a  discoid al  stone,  several 
arrow  and  spear  points,  two  stone  celts,  a  clay  pipe,  an 
earthen  pot,  and  other  matters  of  a  primitive  character 
fashioned  for  use  or  ornament. 

This  excavation  for  the  line  of  the  railway  neces- 


160  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

sitated  the  removal  of  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
northern  side  of  the  central  mound.  In  the  conduct 
of  this  work,  the  laborers,  while  cutting  through 
the  slope  of  the  mound,  and  at  a  depth  of  perhaps 
three  feet  below  the  superior  surface,  exhumed  several 
skulls,  regular  in  outline  and  possessing  the  ordinary 
characteristics  of  American  crania.  Associated  with 
these  skeletons  were  stone  implements — the  handiwork 
of  the  red  race — and  Venetian  beads  and  copper  hawk- 
bells  acquired  through  commercial  intercourse  with 
the  early  traders  and  voyagers.  The  fact  was  patent 
that  at  least  some  of  these  inhumations  had  occurred 
subsequent  to  the  period  of  primal  contact  between 
the  European  and  the  Indian. 

Passing  below  these  interments — which  were  evi- 
dently secondary  in  their  character — and  arriving  at 
the  bottom  of  the  mound,  a  skull  was  obtained  which 
differed  most  essentially  from  those  we  have  described 
as  belonging  to  a  later  inhumation.  It  was  vastly  older 
than  those  of  the  secondary  interments,  and  had  been 
artificially  distorted  to  such  an  extent  that  the  cerebel- 
lum was  quite  obliterated,  while  the  front  portion  of 
the  skull  had  not  only  been  flattened  but  irregularly 
compressed,  so  as  to  cause  an  undue  elevation  and  di- 
vergence to  the  left. 

For  the  purposes  of  comparison  we  have  (in  Plate 
IV.-A)  figured  two  skulls,  the  first  (1)  being  that  of 
a  modern  Indian  buried  upon  the  side  of  the  mound 
only  a  few  feet  below  the  surface ;  the  other,  the  crani- 
um of  the  primitive  man  in  whose  honor  the  tumulus 
was  constructed.  Of  this  latter  skull  we  have  both  a 
front  and  side  view  (Figs.  2  and  3,  Plate  IV.-A). 

Among  the  relics  found  in  the  vicinity  of  this  old, 
artificially-compressed   skull,  was   a  total   absence  of 


PRIMARY    AND    SECONDARY    INTERMENTS,  161 

European  ornaments.  Here  we  have  an  interesting 
demonstration  of  the  fact  that  these  ancient  tumuli 
were,  in  turn,  used  by  tribes  who  perhaps  had  no 
knowledge  the  one  of  the  other.  The  flattened  and  dis- 
torted skull  belongs  to  the  mound-building  people  to 
whose  industry  the  erection  of  these  tumuli  is  to  be 
referred.  It  was  in  perpetuation  and  in  honor  of 
such  primal  sepulture  that  this  mound  was  heaped  up. 
In  the  course  of  time  these  sepulchral  and  temple 
structures,  abandoned  of  their  owners,  passed  into  the 
hands  of  other  and  later  red  races,  who  buried  their 
dead  upon  the  superior  surface  and  along  the  slopes  of 
these  ancient  tumuli,  having  at  the  time,  perchance,  no 
personal  acquaintance  wTith,  and  frequently  not  even  a 
distinct  tradition  of,  the  peoples  to  whose  exertions  these 
evidences  of  early  constructive  skill  were  attributable. 
In  the  absence  of  letters  and  of  recorded  memories 
most  easily  does  one  wave  of  human  life  sweep  over 
another,  obliterating  all  former  recollections  save  such 
as  are  lodged  in  the  womb  of  mounds,  or  preserved  in 
the  generous  bosom  of  mother  earth  : 

"  The  very  generations  of  the  dead 
Are  swept  away,  and  tomb  inherits  tomb, 
Until  the  memory  of  an  age  is  fled, 
And,  buried,  sinks  beneath  its  offspring's  doom."  ' 

The  Creeks  did  not  claim  that  these  tumuli  were 
erected  by  them.  They  declared  that  they  were  here 
when  their  ancestors  first  possessed  themselves  of  the 
region.  Who  these  flat-head  mound-builders  were,  is 
matter  for  conjecture.  It  may  be  that  they  were  a 
colony  of  the  Natchez,  journeying  hither  from  their 
old  habitat  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi.     Certain 

1  "  Don  Juan,"  canto  iv.,  cii. 


102  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

it  is,  that  these  tumuli  antedate  the  traditions  of  the 
Creeks  who  were  native  here  at  the  period  of  the  Eng- 
lish colonization. 

Below  these  mounds — in  the  valley-lands  of  the 
Ocmulgee,  upon  Lamar's  plantation — are  several  large 
tumuli.  The  presence  of  these  mounds,  and  the  nu- 
merous relics  scattered  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  valley  for  miles,  afford  ample  testimony 
that  this  rich  alluvial  soil  was  once  the  seat  of  a 
numerous  and,  perhaps,  permanent  population.  The 
debris  of  frequent  encampments  along  the  bluffs  of 
the  river  prove  that  the  aborigines,  during  the  lapsed 
centuries,  congregated  here  in  numbers  for  fishing  and 
hunting ;  and  old  clearings  in  the  valley  give  evidence 
that  they  supported  themselves  in  part  by  the  cultiva- 
tion of  maize. 

The  many  unio-shells  overlying  the  surface  of  the 
fields  and  intermingled  with  the  refuse  piles  of  former 
encampments,  corroborate  the  fidelity  of  the  S}3anish 
narratives  and  furnish  present  physical  assurance  that 
the  natives  of  this  region  carefully  collected  these  shells 
that  the  animals  which  they  contained  might  serve  as 
food,  and  their  valves,  so  iridescent  with  pearly  nacre, 
afford  material  for  the  manufacture  of  beads,  gorgets, 
and  other  ornaments.  From  them,  also,  were  pearls 
obtained,  which  the  Indians  perforated  with  heated 
copper  spindles  that  they  might  be  strung  and  worn  as 
necklaces,  armlets,  anklets,  and  about  the  shoulders  and 
waist. 

The  presence  of  gorgets,  made  of  marine  shells,  and 
numerous  columns  of  the  stromhus  gigas,  some  in  an 
imperfect  condition,  and  others  entirely  finished  and 
perforated  longitudinally  so  that  they  could  be  used 
as  pendants,  attest  the  commerca  which  existed  be- 


ANCIENT   FORTIFICATION    ON   BKOWK  S   MOUNT.       103 

tween  tlie  coast  Indians  and  those  occupying  tlie  in- 
terior. 

"  Brown's  Mount,"  situated  on  the  line  between 
Bibb  and  Twiggs  Counties,  from  its  summit  affords  a 
fine  view  of  the  city  of  Macon,  while,  from  its  western 
exposure,  which  is  very  precipitous,  the  eye  ranges  all 
over  the  Ocmulgee  Basin  and  across  the  country  far 
away  to  the  valley  of  the  Flint  River. 

Follow ving  the  natural  conformation  of  the  summit 
boundaries,  and  at  some  points  retired  a  distance  of 
twenty  yards  or  more  from  the  edge  of  the  hill,  are  the 
remains  of  an  old  wall — constructed  of  bowlders  of  rock, 
and  earth — whicli  encircled  and  fortified  the  entire  top 
of  the  mount.  About  sixty  acres,  I  am  informed,  are 
thus  enclosed.  Attendant  upon  the  wall  are  traces  of 
both  an  outside  and  an  inside  ditch,  the  former  being 
originally  about  ten  feet  wide  and  four  feet  deep,  and 
the  latter  some  three  feet  wide  and  between  two  and 
three  feet  deep.  The  earth  removed  in  the  construc- 
tion of  these  ditches  was  used,  in  conjunction  with  the 
stone-bowlders,  in  building  this  wall.  Within  the  rec- 
ollection of  persons  still  living,  this  wall  was  four  feet 
high,  and  between  four  and  five  feet  in  thickness.  It 
will  be  perceived  that  the  height  of  the  wall  was  practi- 
cally increased  by  the  depth  of  the  interior  ditch ;  so 
that  the  defenders  standing  in  the  ditch  would  be  com- 
pletely  protected  from  the  shafts  of  their  assailants. 

The  defensive  abilities  of  this  circumvallation  were 
augmented  by  elevated  platforms  and  lunettes  con- 
structed all  along  the  line  at  intervals  of  about  thirty 
yards.  The  interior  dimensions  of  these  lunettes  may 
be  expressed  by  ten  feet  in  front  and  eight  feet  in 
depth.  By  this  arrangement,  at  close  intervals,  the 
defenders  were  thrown  in  advance  of  the  line ;  and, 


164  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE   SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

elevated  upon  platforms,  were  enabled  nqt  only  to  de- 
liver a  powerful  direct  fire,  but  also  with  their  arrows 
and  spears  to  enfilade  the  main  line,  thereby  securing 
a  double  advantage  in  case  of  attack,  and  affording 
material  aid  to  those  who  were  defending  the  wall  or 
curtains  connecting  these  advanced  works. 

In  some  places  the  wall  has  become  well-nigh  ob- 
literated ;  at  other  points  it  is  still  quite  distinct,  and 
its  entire  circuit,  as  well  as  the  outlines  of  the  lunettes, 
can  be  traced  all  along  the  crest  of  the  hill.  Upon  the 
wall,  trees  are  growing  more  than  three  feet  in  diam- 
eter. This  was,  without  doubt,  the  work  of  the  red- 
men,  and  in  ancient  times  constituted  a  fortified  re- 
treat. Similar  structures  exist  within  the  limits  of 
Georgia  and  in  many  portions  of  the  United  States. 
It  will  be  remembered  that,  in  the  absence  of  any 
speedier  mode  of  transmitting  intelligence,  the  Indians 
signalled  by  means  of  fires  kindled  upon  prominent 
points.  Through  their  intervention  the  approach  of 
danger  was  heralded,  and  the  lurid  warning  quickly 
repeated  until  the  members  of  the  tribe,  through  all 
their  abodes,  were  rapidly  put  upon  the  alert.  Such 
is  the  location  of  Brown's  Mount,  and  so  abrupt  and 
commanding  its  exposure  on  the  west,  that  signal-fires 
kindled  there  could  be  readily  seen  and  interpreted 
even  by  the  primitive  dwellers  upon  the  banks  of  Flint 
River.  From  the  side  which  looks  toward  Macon  kin- 
dred warnings — cloudy  pillars  of  smoke  by  day  and 
bright  flames  by  night — would  quickly  summon  the 
warriors  of  the  Upper  Ocmulgee,  and  put  those,  who 
there  inhabited,  upon  notice.  Doubtless,  during  the 
forgotten  past,  this  fortified  hill  answered  important 
military  uses  in  the  conduct  of  the  ever-recurring  strifes 
which  existed  among  the  red-men. 


ANCIENT    FORTIFICATION    ON   BKOWN's    MOUNT.       165 

Tlie  impression,  entertained  by  some,  that  this  cir- 
cumvallation  was  the  work  of  De  Soto  and  his  follow- 
ers, is  erroneous. 

Within  the  enclosure  are  the  traces  of  two  small 
earth-mounds,  and  near  the  northeastern  side  is  a  pond 
or  basin,  elliptical  in  form,  covering  about  a  quarter  of 
an  acre.  Of  late  years  it  has  been  drained,  and  at  the 
time  of  my  visit  it  contained  no  water.  The  statement 
was  made  that  this  was  an  artificial  basin  and  that  its 
bottom  had  been  plastered  with  clay  at  some  remote 
period,  so  as  the  more  effectually  to  retain  the  rain-water 
which  would,  from  time  to  time,  accumulate  in  it.  I 
had  no  means  at  command  for  making  an  examination, 
and  testing  the  truth  of  this  assertion.  The  pond  was 
overgrown  with  trees,  and  filled  with  decayed  leaves 
and  loam.  To  all  appearances,  it  seemed  a  natural  res- 
ervoir, although  it  may  be  that  the  natives  originally 
made  this  excavation  with  a  view  to  supplying  them- 
selves with  water  in  the  event  of  a  siege.  The  natural 
supply  of  this  fluid,  upon  ordinary  occasions,  was  prob- 
ably derived  from  four  springs  issuing  from  the  north- 
ern, eastern,  southern,  and  western  faces  of  the  hill — 
in  each  instance,  within  not  much  more  than  fifty 
yards  of  the  wall.  Indications  still  exist  tending  to 
establish  the  fact  that  the  paths  leading  to  at  least 
some  of  these  springs  were  protected  by  stone  walls  or 
partially-covered  ways.  The  summit  of  this  hill  is 
well  adapted  to  cultivation,  and,  in  one  locality,  I  ob- 
served a  circular  depression,  about  forty  feet  in  di- 
ameter, which  suggested  the  belief  that  it  might  be 
the  former  site  of  one  of  those  semi-sunken  public  gran- 
aries in  use  among  the  Southern  Indians,  of  which  the 
early  historians  have  given  us  substantial  descrip- 
tions. 


166  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

In  the  first  volume  of  Pickett's  "  History  of  Ala- 
bama " '  may  be  found  a  sketch,  and  also  a  description 
of  a  group  of  mounds  on  the  plantation  of  Mr.  Messier, 
in  Early  County,  Georgia.  Both  have  been  repro- 
duced without  variation,  or  subsequent  verification,  in 
White's  "Historical  Collections  of  Georgia."2  The 
unusual,  haycock  appearance  of  these  tumuli  and  the 
prim,  sharply-defined  circumvallation  have  always 
seemed  extravagant,  and  encouraged  the  belief  that  the 
plan  and  accompanying  explanation  had  been  carelessly 
prepared,  and  were  in  the  main  erroneous.  Impressed 
with  this  conviction,  and  being  unable  to  make  a  per- 
sonal examination  of  the  locality,  the  author  requested 
Major  James  Audley  Maxwell — a  well-known  and 
skilful  civil  engineer — to  visit  the  spot  and  favor  him 
with  an  accurate  survey  of  such  ancient  earth-works  as 
were  now  to  be  seen.  This  he  has  kindly  done,  and  to 
him  are  we  indebted  for  the  following  plan  and  de- 
scription conveying  a  correct  idea  of  the  present  condi- 
tion of  these  interesting  evidences  of  early  construc- 
tive skill.  It  will  be  readily  noted  how  widely  the 
impressions  of  an  intelligent  engineer  differ  from  the 
notions  of  a  casual  observer. 

The  Messier  Mound — so  called  because  situated  on 
the  plantation  of  Mr.  Messier,  of  Early  County — is  lo- 
cated about  twelve  miles  east  of  the  Chattahoochee  Kiv- 
er,  and  from  the  summit  of  a  hill  looks  down  upon  the 
narrow  valley  of  the  Little  Colomokee  Creek.  Crown- 
ing the  natural  hill  with  an  artificial  elevation  of  fifty- 
five  feet,  from  its  top  is  afforded  a  commanding  view  of 
the  surrounding  country.  In  the  vicinity  of  this  tumu- 
lus and  stretching  away  to  the  west,  are  seen  the  culti- 

1  Page  1(58.     Charleston,  1851. 

2  Pa^e  425.     New  York,  1851. 


MOUND  IN  EARLY  COUNTY,  GEORGIA.       1G7 

vated  fields  of  Mr.  Messier,  while  ou  the  east,  north,  and 
south,  are  the  swamps  of  Colomokee  and  its  tributaries, 
beautiful  in  the  luxuriant  and  variegated  foliage  native 
to  this  semi-tropical  region.  The  most  facile  approach 
to  the  mound  is  from  the  west,  access  from  any  other 
quarter  being  rendered  difficult  by  natural  obstacles  not 
easily  overcome.  The  Messier  mound  is  not  one  of  a 
group,  but  stands  apart,  prominent  in  size  and  marked 
in  its  physical  peculiarities.  Other  tumuli  exist  in  the 
vicinity,  one  of  them  near  enough  to  appear  on  the 
scale  of  the  accompanying  map;  but  none  of  these 
smaller  mounds  differ  in  any  essential  respect  from  the 
numerous  hemispherical  heaps  of  earth  erected  as 
burial-places  by  the  Indians  who  formerly  inhabited 
Southwestern  Georgia  and  Southeastern  Alabama. 
Tradition,  speaking  through  the  mouths  of  the  de- 
scendants of  early  European  settlers,  declares  that  the 
modern  Indians  lived  here  in  large  numbers,  and  that, 
while  claiming  the  smaller  mounds  as  the  last  resting- 
places  of  their  noted  dead,  they  regarded  the  great 
mound  with  commingled  wonder,  ignorance,  and  su- 
perstition. This  traditional  testimony  is  confirmed  by 
the  presence  of  numerous  arrow  and  spear  heads,  frag- 
ments of  pottery,  pipes,  and  other  relics  of  the  skill 
and  industry  of  the  red  race.  Whether  viewed  near 
by  or  from  a  distance,  the  large  tumulus  seems  but  a 
huge  mass  of  foliage — the  outlines  of  this  earthwork 
being  concealed  by  leafy  terraces  of  huge  trees  cover- 
ing the  sides  and  growing  along  the  slopes  from  base 
to  summit.  The  top  of  the  mound  is  a  level  plane, 
and  was  lon^  since  denuded  of  all  vegetation  for  the 
purpose  of  cultivation.  Beneath  the  trees  a  tangled 
undergrowth  of  vines,  bushes,  and  briers,  in  inex- 
tricable confusion,  forms  an  inviting   retreat  for  the 


108  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

rabbit  and  the  rattlesnake.  It  is  only  at  some  risk, 
and  with  indefatigable  industry  that  the  exact  form  of 
this  hu^e  earthwork  can  be  determined.  While  it  is 
not  singular  that  cursory  observers  should  have 
formed  erroneous  impressions  on  this  point,  it  is  re- 
markable and  worthy  of  condemnation  that  the  results 
of  such  careless  examinations  should  have  been  public- 
ly heralded  as  conveying  proper  impressions  of  this 
interesting  monument. 

The  form  of  this  mound  is  that  of  the  frustum  of  a 
four-sided  pyramid;  the  top  surface  a  level  plane — a 
rectangular  parallelogram — the  north  and  south  sides 
being  each  sixty-six  feet  in  length,  and  the  east  and 
west  sides  each  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  feet  long. 
The  base-plane  is  not  precisely  level,  but  declines 
somewhat  from  the  north  toward  the  south,  so  that 
the  vertical  height  of  the  mound  at  the  northeast  and 
northwest  corners  is  fifty-three  feet,  while  the  vertical 
height  at  the  southeast  and  southwest  corners  is  fifty- 
seven  feet.  The  northern  boundary  of  the  base  of  this 
pyramid  is  one  hundred  and  eighty-eight  feet  long — the 
southern  boundary  about  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
eight  feet,  while  the  eastern  and  western  boundaries  are 
each  three  hundred  and  twenty-four  feet.  The  slope  of 
the  east,  west,  and  south  sides  is  about  one  and  a  quar- 
ter to  one — or  steeper  than  the  natural  slope  of  earth 
— while  the  north  side  slopes  rather  more  than  one  and 
a  half  to  one,  which  is  about  the  natural  slope  of  the 
earth  of  which  this  mound  is  composed.  The  foregoing 
description,  in  connection  with  the  map  and  profiles  (see 
Plate  V.),  caunot  fail  to  convey  an  accurate  conception 
of  the  shape  of  this  mound.  It  must  be  remembered, 
however,  that  no  earthwork  can  be  said  to  conform 
precisely  to  any  mathematical  figure.     The  angles  are 


Slate.  F. 


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MOUND  IN  EAELY  COUNTY,  GEORGIA.      1G9 

always  more  or  less  rounded,  and  the  slopes  and  sur- 
faces to  a  greater  or  less  degree  convex  or  concave. 
The  form  of  this  mound  agrees  as  accurately  with  the 
description  given  as  does  that  of  any  modern  earthwork 
with  the  shape  prescribed  by  the  civil  engineer.  The 
slopes  are  even  more  perfect  than  those  of  railway  em- 
bankments. The  fact  that  they  are  steeper  than  the 
natural  slope  must  be  explained  upon  the  hypothesis 
of  superior  construction — as  by  the  thorough  packing 
of  the  earth  in  successive,  thin  layers.  The  greatest  de- 
parture from  mathematical  conformity  to  the  pyramid 
occurs  at  the  angles,  which  are  rounded  by  curves  of 
from  five  to  fifteen  feet  in  length.  This  may  have 
been  the  result  of  design  rather  than  the  effect  of 
time.  Alono;  the  northeastern  and  northwestern  an- 
gles  the  ascent  to  the  top  may  most  conveniently  be 
made,  but  there  are  no  indications  of  any  special  pro- 
vision for  this  purpose.  There  are  no  terraces.  The 
space  contained  between  the  south  side  of  the  mound 
and  the  moat — easily  recognized  upon  the  map  by 
its  resemblance,  in  form,  to  the  segment  of  a  circle — is 
not  a  terrace.  However  important  the  use  to  which  this 
space  may  have  been  dedicated,  it  possesses  no  digni- 
fied elevation,  but  apparently  occupies  the  same  level 
with  the  original  surface  upon  which  the  mound  was 
erected.  It  is  said  that  long  ago  a  cavernous  oj)en- 
ing  in  the  southern  slope  of  the  mound  was  visible 
opposite  the  centre  of  this  segment-like  space,  but 
there  is  now  no  indication  that  such  an  opening  ever 
existed. 

This  tumulus  contains  about  seventy-five  thousand 
cubic  yards  of  earth,  and  would  weigh  from  ninety 
thousand  to  one  hundred  thousand  tons.  By  means 
of  modern  appliances  its  erection  could  be  compassed 


170  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEEN   INDIANS. 

at  a  cost  of  some  fifty  thousand  dollars,  provided  the 
earth  was  taken  from  the  excavations  from  which  the 
ancient  mound- builders  obtained  it.  The  industrious 
labor  of  one  thousand  savages,  properly  applied  for 
the  space  of  one  year,  would  have  accomplished  the 
work  with  the  aid  of  baskets  or  even  earthen-ware 
pots  for  the  transfer  of  the  earth.  These  figures  may 
or  may  not  engender  disappointment.  We  naturally 
incline  to  the  marvellous,  and  if  the  reader  expresses 
surprise,  let  him  compare  the  result  with  the  scanty 
means  then  at  command — the  effect  with  the  appar- 
ently meagre  cause. 

We  turn  now  to  the  surroundings  of  this  husre 
tumulus.  On  the  west  lies  a  level  plain  well  suited 
for  the  wigwams  and  streets  of  an  Indian  village — 
for  play-grounds  and  fields  both  for  manly  exercise 
and  the  cultivation  of  maize.  On  the  remaining  sides 
the  ground  descends  toward  the  neighboring  streams, 
but  there  is  no  abrupt  declivity  from  the  immediate 
edge  of  the  mound.  For  a  distance  of  two  hundred 
feet  on  the  south,  four  hundred  on  the  east,  and  seven 
hundred  on  the  north,  the  natural  plain  is  interrupted 
only  by  artificial  excavations.  These  are  A  B  the 
moat,  B  C  D  the  ditch,  and  E  F  Gr  the  pit,  from  all 
of  which  earth  was  taken  and  used  in  the  construction 
of  the  mound. 

From  B  to  C  the  ditch  is  remarkably  regular  in 
form,  and  will  average  twelve  feet  in  depth,  ten  feet 
in  width  at  the  bottom,  and  thirty  feet  in  width  at  the 
top.  At  the  point  C  this  ditch,  as  described,  ceases  ab- 
ruptly, and  here  commences  a  small  ditch  only  two 
feet  deep — apparently  a  natural  channel  worn  by  de. 
scending  rain-water — deepening  and  widening  until 
it  reaches  the  edge  of  the  swanrp  at  D.     From  B  to  C 


MOUND  IN  EAELY  COUNTY,  GEORGIA.       171 

this  ditch  is  clearly  artificial :  from  C  to  D  it  is  seem- 
ingly not  so.  "We  should  not  positively  conclude,  how- 
ever, that  this  ditch  did  not  originally  extend  to  the 
creek.  From  C  to  D  a  large  ditch  would  naturally, 
with  the  lapse  of  time,  become  smaller  in  consequence 
of  the  constant  accumulation  of  sand  and  clay  brought 
down  by  the  water.  From  B  to  C  on  the  contrary, 
the  ditch  would  receive  no  water  except  such  as  fell 
into  its  open  mouth,  and  would  preserve  its  outlines. 
No  indications  remain  suggesting  that  this  ditch  was 
formerly  a  covered  way. 

The  moat — so  called  for  want  of  a  better  name — is 
simply  a  prolongation  of  the  ditch  from  B  to  A  in  the 
form  shown  in  the  accompanying  sketch  (Plate  V.). 
From  B  to  A  it  becomes  uniformly  wider  and  shallow- 
er. At  B,  it  is  ten  feet  deep ;  at  A  two  feet  deep ;  and, 
half-way  between  those  points,  its  depth  does  not  ex- 
ceed six  feet.  It  is  not  probable  that  its  original  form 
and  dej)th  have  materially  changed.  The  slopes  are  so 
gradual  that  midway  between  the  points  A  and  B  a 
buggy  and  horse  can  be  driven  across.  There  is  noth- 
ing remarkable  about  the  segment-shaped  space  lying 
between  the  moat  and  the  mound  except  its  regularity 
of  outline. 

The  ditch  and  moat  furnished  earth  sufficient  to 
raise  the  mound  to  an  altitude  of  only  one  foot.  The 
rest  of  the  material  used  in  its  construction  was  taken 
from  the  great  pit  E  F  Gr,  which,  although  not  accu- 
rately measured,  seemed  just  large  enough  to  have 
furnished  the  required  quantity.  Its  area  is  about  two 
acres,  and  its  average  depth  twenty-five  feet,  with  easy 
slopes  on  the  side  nearest  the  mound.  At  the  point 
E,  however,  the  descent  is  perpendicular,  and  here  an 
immense  circular  well,  sixty  feet  in  diameter  and  forty 


172  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

feet  deep,  may  still  be  seen,  clearly  defined  in  all  its 
parts.  The  bottom  of  this  well  is  fifteen  feet  below 
the  bottom  of  the  pit,  so  that  when  the  water  in  the 
well  rises  above  the  level  of  the  bottom  of  the  pit  it 
flows  off  through  the  pit  toward  the  point  G,  where 
this  artificial  excavation  connects  with  a  natural  gorge 
in  which  rises  and  flows  a  small  stream  of  never-failing 
water.  The  original  head  of  this  gorge  was  at  Gr,  and 
the  location  of  the  pit  was  doubtless  selected  with  a 
view  to  draining  off,  through  this  natural  channel,  the 
water  which  would  necessarily  accumulate  in  the  pit 
during  the  process  of  its  construction  and  materially 
retard  the  prosecution  of  the  work.  For  this  purpose 
the  excavation  was  commenced  at  Gr,  and  progressed 
toward  E,  the  water  passing  off  in  a  direction  oppo- 
site to  that  in  which  the  labor  proceeded. 

It  is  said  that  there  formerly  existed,  and  still  re- 
main in  the  vicinity,  lines  of  earthwork  a  mile  in  length, 
but  the  writer  could  find  no  one  able  to  point  them 
out.  Consequently  he  has  not  attempted  to  locate 
them  on  the  map.  South  of  the  mound,  at  and  from 
m  to  n,  along  the  steep  slope  of  the  hill,  the  surface 
of  the  ground  has  been  washed  into  numerous  gullies 
in  which  may  be  found  many  fragments  of  human 
bones.  These  are  exposed  after  every  heavy  rain, 
but  they  are  so  old  and  in  such  a  decayed  condi- 
tion that  they  soon  crumble  into  dust.  The  prob- 
ability is  that  the  side  of  the  hill  in  this  direction  was 
extensively  used  for  the  purposes  of-  sepulture.  Some 
years  ago  a  well  was  dug  from  the  top  of  the  mound, 
passing  along  its  centre,  to  the  depth  of  fifty  feet.  This 
investigation  was  not  undertaken  in  the  interest  of 
science,  but  with  the  hope  of  finding  precious  metals 
and  valuable  stones.     Disappointed  in  their  expecta- 


MOUND  IN  EAELY  COUNTY,  GEORGIA.      173 

tions,  the  workmen  subsequently  closed  this  opening ; 
and  from  them  no  useful  information  has  been  gathered 
touching  the  contents  and  stratification  of  the  tumulus. 

Arrow  and  spear  heads,  stone  axes,  fragments  of 
quartz — not  native  to  this  region — and  numerous 
sherds  of  earthen  vessels,  variously  and  fancifully  or- 
namented, lie  scattered  upon  the  surface  of  the  ground, 
and  are  turned  up  by  the  ploughshare  in  every  direction. 

Before  the  writer  visited  this  mound  he  had  formed 
a  theory  with  regard  to  the  method  of  its  construction, 
which  a  careful  examination  compelled  him  to  reject. 
Had  he  enjoyed  the  honor  of  serving  as  engineer-in- 
chief  to  his  Majesty  the  King  of  the  Mound-builders 
he  would  have  suggested  the  selection  of  a  hill  like 
that  represented  by  the  heavy  broken  line  in  Fig.  4, 
Plate  Y.  The  earth  taken  from  the  dotted  areas  on 
either  side,  and  placed  so  as  to  form  the  truncated 
pyramid  indicated  by  the  continuous  line,  would  have 
produced  a  mound  as  large  as  the  Messier  mound,  at 
an  expenditure  of  only  one-tenth  the  labor.  The  Mes- 
sier mound  has  received,  however,  no  assistance  what- 
ever from  any  such  device.  It  is  entirely  artificial, 
and  the  suggestion  is  named  in  this  connection  sim- 
ply because  it  may  turn  out,  upon  the  examination  of 
other  large  tumuli,  that  they  may  have  been  built 
after  this  fashion. 

White-oaks — some  of  them  more  than  nine  feet  in 
circumference — are  growing  upon  the  sides  of  this 
mound.  Their  annual  rings  were  not  counted,  nor  is 
it  known  how  many  generations  of  forest-trees  may 
have  lived  and  died  upon  this  tumulus,  each  giving 
its  tribute  of  soil  to  the  surface,  since  the  date  of  its 
abandonment  by  those  who  compassed  its  erection. 
If  any  superior  stratum  of  baked  earth,  or  any  traces 


174  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

of  sacrificial  altars  once  existed  upon  the  summit,  they 
are  not  now  exposed  to  view.1 

In  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  the  Messier  mound 
was  erected  not  for  defensive  purposes,  but  as  a  temple 
for  the  solemnization  of  religious  rites — probably  for 
the  worship  of  the  sun.  The  erection  of  earth-walls  in 
the  vicinity  was  designed  to  facilitate  the  security  and 
defence  of  a  locality  upon  which  so  much  labor  had 
been  expended  by  these  primitive  peoples.  These  are 
incidental,  however,  and  subordinate  to  the  primal 
object,  which  was  the  construction  of  this  huge  mound- 
temple.  As  a  defensive  work  this  tumulus  is  well 
located,  although  its  position  is  much  inferior  to  many 
others   which  misdit  be  suffsested  in   the   neighbor- 

o  go  o 

hood. 

It  appears  probable  that  in  ancient  times  there 
existed  an  underground  communication  between  the 
well  E  and  the  mound.  That  well  contains  water 
now,  and  in  all  likelihood  has  never  been  dry. 

Evidently  these  ditches  and  excavations  were  origi- 
nally the  sources  whence  Avas  procured  earth  required 
for  the  erection  of  the  mound.  To  what  secondary 
uses  they  may  subsequently  have  been  dedicated  must 
remain  a  matter  of  conjecture.  In  the  religious  festi- 
vals of  these  primitive  peoples  ablutions  subserved  an 

1  In  the  description  of  this  moutid  furnished  by  Dr.  Charles  A.  "Woodruff  to 
Mr.  Pickett,  more  than  twenty  years  ago,  and  published  by  him  in  his  history  of 
Alabama,  hearth-stones  are  mentioned  on  the  summit,  with  fragments  of  charred 
wood  about  them.  These  may  have  been  indicative  of  saciificial  uses,  or  they  may 
have  been  simply  the  places  where  the  Creeks  in  later  years  kindled  their  signal-fires 
or  cooked  their  daily  food.  The  forest-trees  then  growing  upon  the  mound  were 
stated  by  Dr.  Woodruff  to  be  from  four  to  five  hundred  years  old.  Of  the  earth- 
wall  enclosing  the  mound,  Major  Maxwell  found  no  trace.  "  The  arched  passage, 
three  hundred  yards  in  length,  leading  from  the  large  mound  to  the  creek,  and 
probably  intended  to  procure  water  for  religious  purposes,"  spoken  of  by  Dr. 
Woodruff,  was  probably  nothing  more  than  the  segment-shaped  moat  and  ditch 
described  by  Major  Maxwell. 


MOUND   IN   EAELY   COUNTY,    GEORGIA.  175 

important  part,  and  the  convenient  presence  of  water 
was  deemed  essential.  What  precise  significance  may 
have  been  attached  to  its  conveyance,  in  a  particular 
way,  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  temple-mound  is  now 
unknown.  In  the  event  of  an  attack,  a  liberal  supply 
of  this  indispensable  fluid  was  absolutely  necessary ; 
and  it  may  be  that  in  the  location  of  the  large  reser- 
voir and  of  the  moat,  respect  was  had  to  this  contingen- 
cy likely  to  occur  at  any  moment  in  view  of  the  preda- 
tory habits  of  many  of  the  tribes  which,  at  that  remote 
period,  migrating  hither  and  thither,  sought  to  dis- 
possess present  owners  of  chosen  seats  which  pleased 
their  rude  fancies  or  seemed  most  prodigal  of  those 
stores  upon  which  they  mainly  depended  for  subsist- 
ence. We  conclude  with  one  other  suggestion,  and  it 
is  this,  that  the  large  excavation  and  the  semicircular 
moat  may  have  been  used  as  fisli-presei'ves.  We  have 
already  noted  the  fact  that  the  Southern  Indians,  in 
the  olden  time,  were  in  the  habit  of  breeding  fishes  in 
artificial  ponds,  capturing  them  with  nets  of  their  own 
manufacture  as  occasion  required. 

We  might  multiply  examples,  for  they  exist  in 
various  localities,  but  enough  has,  we  trust,  already 
been  said,  to  convey  a  correct  impression  of  the  dis- 
tinguishing characteristics  of  the  ancient  tumuli  be- 
longing to  the  class  to  which  our  attention  has  been 
directed. 

Upon  even  a  cursory  examination  of  these  groups 
of  mounds  with  their  attendant  ditches,  earth-walls,  and 
fish-preserves,  it  is  difficult  to  resist  the  impression 
that  they  are  the  remains  of  peoples  more  patient  of 
labor  and  in  some  respects  superior  to  the  nomadic 
tribes  which,  within  the  memory  of  the  whites,  clung 
around   and   devoted   to   secondary  uses   these   long- 


176  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE   SOUTIIEKN   INDIANS. 

deserted  monuments.  There  is  not  a  considerable 
stream  within  the  limits  of  Georgia  in  whose  valleys 
tumuli  of  this  sort  are  not  to  be  found.  They  appear 
in  Florida,  and  are  very  frequent  in  Alabama,  where 
truncated  pyramids  are  even  more  abundant.  Ten- 
nessee, South  Carolina,  Mississippi,  and  Louisiana,  are 
dotted  with  interesting  monuments  of  this  class.  The 
occupation  of  this  entire  region  by  these  mound-build- 
ing peoples  was  by  no  means  inconsiderable.  It  is  in 
fertile  valleys  and  upon  the  alluvial  river-flats,  whose 
soil  afforded  ample  scope  for  agricultural  pursuits,  that 
these  tumuli  are  mainly  seen.  Why  the  older  Indian 
tribes  should  have  erected  monuments  so  much  more 
substantial  and  imposing  than  those  which  were  con- 
structed by  the  modern  Indians,  it  is  difficult  to  an- 
swer. The  Cherokees  and  Creeks  did  not,  in  many 
things,  equal  the  aborigines  of  the  sixteenth  century 
as  described  by  the  historians  of  the  expeditions. 
Whence  the  cause  of  this  evident  decadence  in  in- 
dustry, craft,  and  power  ?  Can  it  be  that  the  burdens 
imposed,  the  desolations  wrought,  and  the  diseases 
introduced  among  the  natives  by  the  Spaniards,  con- 
tributed to  this  demoralization?  Time  was,  if  we 
may  fairly  judge  from  the  appearance  and  manifest 
uses  of  some  of  these  more  august  tumuli  and  their 
attendant  relics,  when  those  who  built  and  cared  for 
them  held  a  position  at  least  somewhat  in  advance  of 
the  later  Indian  tribes.  Fomxiug  j)ermanent  settle, 
ments,  they  devoted  themselves  to  agricultural  pur- 
suits, erected  temples,  fortified  localities,  worshipped 
the  sun,  possessed  idols,  wrought  largely  in  stone, 
fashioned  ornaments  of  foreign  shells,  and  occasionally 
of  gold,  used  copper  implements,  and  were  not  entirely 
improvident  of  the  future.     Such  was  the  fertility  of 


MOUND  IN  EAELY  COUNTY,  GEOEGIA.       177 

the  localities  most  thickly  peopled  by  them,  so  pleas- 
ant the  climate,  and  so  abundant  the  supply  of  game, 
that  these  ancient  settlers  were  in  great  measure 
relieved  from  that  stern  struggle  which,  among  no- 
madic tribes  and  under  more  inhospitable  skies,  con- 
stitutes the  great  battle  with  Nature  for  life.  With 
but  few  temptations  to  wander,  except  as  their  num- 
bers increased,  they  seemingly  devoted  much  attention 
to  establishing  their  temples,  protecting  their  settle- 
ments, and  confirming  their  chosen  seats.  And  yet 
they  were  not  exempt  from  the  vicissitudes  which 
have  befallen  greater  and  more  civilized  nations — re- 
verses born  of  the  cupidity  and  cruelty  of  strangers, 
losses  and  positive  destruction  encountered  at  the 
hands  of  despoiling  barbarians.  It  may  be  that  they 
were  compelled  to  abandon  their  valley-homes  in  con- 
sequence of  the  incursions  of  more  warlike  peoples. 

Certain  it  is  that  the  inroads  of  the  Spaniards 
violently  shocked  this  primitive  population,  imparting 
new  ideas,  interrupting  established  customs,  overturn- 
ing acknowledged  government,  impoverishing  whole 
districts,  engendering  a  sense  of  insecurity  until  that 
time  unknown,  causing  marked  changes,  and  entailing 
losses  and  demoralizations  perhaps  far  more  potent 
than  we  are  inclined,  at  first  thought,  to  believe. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Chunky- Yards. — Elevated  Spaces. — Mounds  of  Observation  and  Retreat, — Tumuli 
on  Woolfolk's  Plantation. — Sepulchral  Tumuli. — Chieftain-Mounds. — Custom 
of  burying  Personal  Property  with  the  Dead. — Savannah  owes  a  Monument 
to  Tomo-chi-chi. — Family  or  Tribal  Mounds. — Cremation. 

Responding  to  certain  inquiries  (propounded  in  all 
likelihood  by  Dr.  B.  S.  Barton)  touching  his  personal 
observation  of  the  customs,  government,  and  antiquities 
of  the  Creek  and  Cherokee  Indians,  Mr.  William  Bar- 
tram  furnished  the  following  plan  and  description  of 
the  Chunky- Yards  {see  p.  179). 

"The  Cliunhy -Yard  of  the  Creeks,  so  called  by 
the  traders,  is  a  cubi-form  area  (A)  generally  in 
the  centre  of  the  town-^the  Public  Square  (located 
upon  the  square  eminence  C)  and  the  Rotunda 
or  great  winter  Council-House  (situated  upon  the 
mound  B,  nine  or  ten  feet  high)  standing  at  the  two 
opposite  corners.  It  is  generally  very  extensive,  es- 
pecially in  the  large,  old  towns,  is  exactly  level,  and 
sunk  two,  sometimes  three  feet  below  the  banks  or 
terraces  (b  b  b  b)  surrounding  it,  which  are  sometimes 
two,  one  above  and  behind  the  other,  and  are  formed 
of  earth  cast  out  of  the  area  at  the  time  of  its  forma- 
tion ;  these  banks  or  terraces  serve  the  purposes  of 
seats  for  the  spectators.     In  the  centre  of  the  yard 


CHUNKY- YARDS. 


179 


there  is  a  low  circular  mount  or  eminence  (c),  in  the 
centre  of  which  stands  erect  the  cliunhy-pole,  which  is  a 
high  obelisk,  or  four-square  pillar  declining  upwards 
to  an  obtuse  point,  in  shape  and  proportion  much  re- 
sembling the  ancient  Egyptian   obelisk.     This  is   of 


wood — the  heart  or  inward  resinous  part  of  the  sound 
pine-tree — and  is  very  durable ;  it  is  generally  from 
thirty  to  forty  feet  high,  and  to  the  top  of  this  is  fast- 
ened some  object  to  shoot  at  with  bows  and  arrows, 
the  rifle,  etc.,  at  certain  times  appointed.  Near  each 
corner  of  the  lower  and  further  end  of  the  yard  stands 
erect  a  less  pillar,  or  pole  (d  d),  about  twelve  feet 
high :  these  are  called  the  slave-posts,  because  to  them 
are  bound  the  captives  condemned  to  be  burnt,  and 
these  posts  are  usually  decorated  with  the  scalps  of  their 
slain  enemies :  the  scalps,  with  the  hair  on  them,  and 


ISO  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

strained  on  a  little  hoop,  usually  five  or  six  inches  in 
width,  are  suspended  by  a  string  six  or  seven  inches  in 
length  round  about  the  top  of  the  pole,  where  they  re- 
main as  long  as  they  last.  I  have  seen  some  that  have 
been  there  so  long  as  to  lose  all  the  hair,  and  the  skin 
remaining  white  as  parchment  or  paper.  The  pole 
is  usually  crowned  with  the  white  dry  skull  of  an 
enemy.  In  some  of  these  towns  I  have  counted  six  or 
eight  scalps  fluttering  on  one  pole  in  these  yards. 
Thus  it  appears  evidently  enough  that  this  area  is  de- 
signed for  a  public  place  of  exhibition  of  shows  and 
games,  and  formerly  some  of  the  scenes  were  of  the 
most  tragical  and  barbarous  nature,  as  torturing  the 
miserable  captives  with  fire  in  various  ways,  as  causing 
or  forcing  them  to  run  the  gauntlet  naked,  chunked 
and  beat  almost  to  death  with  burning  chunks  and 
fire-brands,  and  at  last  burnt  to  ashes. 

"I  inquired  of  the  traders  for  what  reason  this 
area  was  called  the  cliunky-yard /  they  were  in  gen- 
eral, ignorant,  yet  they  all  seemed  to  agree  in  a  lame 
story  of  its  originating  from  its  being  the  place  where 
the  Indians  formerly  put  to  death  and  tortured  their 
captives,  or  from  the  Indian  name  for  it,  which  bears 
such  a  signification. 

"  The  Indians  do  not  now  (1773-1789)  torture  their 
captives  after  that  cruel  manner  as  formerly ;  but  there 
are  some  old  traders  who  have  been  present  at  the 
burning  of  captives. 

"  I  observed  no  chunky-yards,  chunky-pole,  or  slave- 
posts,  in  use  in  any  of  the  Cherokee  towns ;  and  when 
1*  I  have  mentioned  in  my  journal  chunky-yards  in  the 
Cherokee  country,  it  must  be  understood  that  I  have 
seen  the  remains  or  vestiges  of  them  in  the  ancient 
ruins  of  towns;    for  in  the  present    Cherokee   towns 


CHUNKY- YAr.DS.  181 

that  I  visited,  though  there  were  the  ancient  mounts 
and  signs  of  the  yard  adjoining,  yet  the  yard  was 
either  built  upon  or  turned  into  "a  garden-spot,  or  the 
like. 

"  Indeed,  I  am  convinced  that  the  chunky-yards  now 
or  lately  in  use  among  the  Creeks  are  of  very  ancient 
date — not  the  formation  of  the  present  Indians.  But 
in  most  towns  they  are  cleaned  out  and  kept  in  re- 
pair, being  swept  very  clean  every  day,  and  the  poles 
kept  up  and  decorated  in  the  manner  I  have  men- 
tioned." ' 

The  physical  traces  of  these  chunky-yards  are  still 
extant  in  various  portions  of  the  State  of  Georgia.  In 
the  southwestern  part  of  the  State  the  forms  of  these 
tumuli  and  enclosed  areas,  and  their  relative  positions 
in  association  with  the  outlines  of  the  general  settle- 
ment, are  in  some  instances  quite  observable.  There 
are  also  spaces,  parallelogramic  in  shape,  elevated  from 
two  to  four  feet  above  the  surface  of  the"  ground,  uni- 
formly level  at  the  top  and  free  from  irregularities, 
which  apparently  were  designed  as  play-grounds. 
Some  of  these  were  rendered  hard  by  an  admixture  of 
clay  and  would  have  afforded  excellent  opportunity 
for  rolling  the  discoidal  stones  which  contributed  so 
largely  to  the  amusement  and  gaining  proclivities  not 
only  of  the  Southern,  but  also  of  many  of  the  other 
North  American  Indians.  We  will  have  occasion,  in 
a  subsequent  part  of  this  work,  to  notice  more  particu- 
larly the  use  of  these  discoidal  stones. 

In  order  to  facilitate  the  rapid  communication  of 
intelligence,  upon  an  emergency,  the  Southern  In- 
dians erected  conical  earth-mounds  upon  commanding 

1  Transactions  of  the  American  Ethnological  Society,  vol.  iii.,  part  1,  pp.   34- 
36,  51,  52.    New  York,  1853. 


182  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

points,  such  as  the  tops  of  hills,  or  elevated  river- 
-bluffs.  Fires  kindled  upon  their  summits  could 
be  readily  recognized  and  interpreted.  The  signals 
thus  given  were  repeated  from  the  tops  of  kindred 
mounds  within  convenient  distances;  and  so,  in  the 
absence  of  the  warning  bugle-note,  the  sound  of  drum, 
the  booming  of  cannon,  and  the  passage  of  the  electric 
spark,  within  a  short  period  an  entire  tribe  could  be 
put  upon  the  alert.  These  Mounds  of  Observation 
are  recognized  by  their  peculiar  situations,  and  from 
the  further  fact  that  they  contain  nothing  other  than 
the  traces  of  the  fires  once  kindled  upon  them  now 
underlying  the  roots  of  overshadowing  trees. 

Striking  examples  of  this  class  of  mounds  may  be 
seen  on  Woolfolk's  plantation,  on  the  Chattahoochee 
River  a  few  miles  below  Columbus,  and  at  other 
points  along  the  line  of  that  river.  Some  years  since, 
one  of  the  largest  was  used  to  construct  a  heavy  dam, 
and  nothing  was  found  in  it  save  a  shell  drinking-cup 
and  bits  of  charcoal.  These  tumuli  are  located  with 
direct  reference  to  the  facile  transmission  of  signals 
along  the  reaches  in  the  river,  and  are  so  disposed  that 
fires  kindled  upon  their  summits  may  be  readily  seen 
from  a  distance,  and  repeated.  Situated  in  the  river- 
swamp — which  is  liable,  to  annual  overflow — they 
served  as  safe  retreats  for  the  natives  during  freshets. 
On  various  occasions  have  the  field-hands  and  planta- 
tion-animals sought  refuge  upon  the  summit  of  the 
large  truncated  mound  which  stands  just  in  rear  of  the 
negro  quarters  on  this  valuable  place.  Many  tumuli 
of  a  like  character  might  be  mentioned,  but  these  will 
serve  as  examples. 

It  was  the  remark  of  Ulloa,  "  If  we  have  seen  one 
American,  we  may  be  said  to  have  seen  all,  their  color 


CHIEFTAIN-MOUNDS.  183 

and  make  are  so  nearly  alike."  So  might  we  affirm, 
in  a  general  way,  of  the  sepulchral  monuments  of  the 
Georgia  tribes.  Although  assimilated  by  many  ob 
vious  resemblances,  for  the  purposes  of  our  present 
description,  they  may  be  considered  as  resolving  them- 
selves into  one  or  the  other  of  the  following  classes. 

Tumuli  containing  a  single  skeleton,  or  at  most 
two  or  three  skeletons,  we  designate  Chieftain- 
Mounds.  The  erection  of  such  tumuli  by  the  Florida 
Indians  in  honor  of  their  deceased  caciques  and  priests, 
is  mentioned  in  the  "  Brevis  Narratio." l  Such  mounds, 
varying  in  height  from  five  to  twenty-five  feet,  are 
found  in  many  localities,  and  usually  occupy  promi- 
nent positions  in  the  vicinity  of  the  spot  which  con- 
stituted the  village-site.  They  are  foT  the  most  part 
conical  in  form,  and  the  human  bones  which  they  con- 
tain do  not  indicate  the  action  of  fire.  Not  infre- 
quently the  dead  was  interred  in  a  sitting  posture. 

Such  was  the  case  in  a  large  mound  carefully  opened 
by  the  writer  upon  the  Colonel's  Island.  The  corpse 
had  evidently  been  placed  upon  the  ground  and  held 
in  position  while  the  loose  sand  was  heaped  around 
and  above.  In  the  neighborhood  of  the  feet  and  hands 
were  numerous  bone  and  shell-beads  which,  at  the  time 
of  the  inhumation,  encircled  the  wrists,  arms  and  an- 
kles. Near  the  skeleton  lay  three  stone  axes,  several 
spear  and  arrow  heads,  two  pipes  of  rather  unusual 
size — one  of  clay  and  the  other  of  steatite — and  a  ter- 
ra-cotta  bowl,  the  property  of  the  deceased  at  the  pe- 
riod of  his  death. 

In  another  mound  the  body  had  first  been  seated  in 
the  centre  of  the  spot  to  be  surmounted  by  the  tumu- 
lus, and  there,  with  his  possessions  deposited  by  his 

1  Plate  xl.     Francoforti  ad  Moenum.     De  Bit,  anno  1591. 


184  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTIIEKN   INDIANS. 

side,  was  securely  encased  in  a  covering  of  tenacious 
red  clay,  six  or  eight  inches  in  thickness,  and  oven- 
shaped.  In  this  manner — the  clay  becoming  dry  and 
hard — the  sitting  posture  was  maintained  while  the 
earth-tomb  was  heaped  above. 

Sometimes  a  stout  light-wood  post  was  first  driven 
into  the  ground,  and  the  dead,  seated  with  their  backs 
to  the  post,  were  securely  lashed  to  it  by  means,  of 
thongs  or  grape-vines.  Two  instances  of  this  sort 
have  been  brought  to  our  knowledge.  In  one  mound 
a  single  skeleton  was  found  at  the  foot  of  the  post. 
In  the  other  the  remains  of  three  skeletons  appeared, 
back  to  back,  the  post  being  in  the  centre. 

Captain  Bossu1  informs  us  that  the  Alibamons 
buried  their  dead  in  a  sitting  posture,  stating,  in 
justification  of  the  custom,  that  man  .being  upright, 
should  have  his  head  turned  toward  heaven,  which  was 
to  be  his  habitation.  "They  give  to  them,"  he  con- 
tinues, "a  calumet  and  some  tobacco  to  smoke,  that 
they  may  make  peace  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  other 
world.  If  the  coi^se  be  of  a  warrior,  he  is  buried  with 
his  arms,  which  are  a  musket,  some  powder  and  bullets, 
a  quiver  full  of  arrows,  a  bow,  and  a  hatchet,  or  club  ; 
and  besides  these  a  mirror  and  some  vermilion,  with 
which  they  may  dress  themselves  in  the  other  world." 

U{)right  burials  are  said,  by  Surveyor-General 
^  Lawson,2  to  have  been  practised  by  the  Carolina  In- 
dians. 

In  preparing  their  dead  for  sepulture,  the  Musco- 
^gulges  placed  the  corpses  in  a  sitting  posture,  deposit- 
ing with  them  such  articles  of  property  as  were  held 
of  greatest  value.3     In  celebrating  the  funeral  rites  of 

1  "  Travels  through  Louisiana,"  etc.,  vol.  i.,  p.  257.     London,  lVTl. 
1  "  History  of  Carolina,"  etc.,  p.  182.     London,  1714. 
'Bartram's  "  Travels,"  etc.,  p.  513.     London,  179-\ 


PERSONAL  PROPERTY  BURIED  WITH  THE  DEAD.   185 

a  chieftain,  the  Cherokees  seated  the  corpse  in  the 
tomb  with  the  face  turned  toward  the  east,  the  head 
anointed  with  bear's  oil,  and  the  countenance  painted 
red.  He  was  attired  in  his  finest  apparel,  "  having 
his  gun  and  pouch,  and  trusty  hiccory  bow,  with  a 
young  panther's  skin,  full  of  arrows,  alongside  of 
him,  and  every  other  useful  thing  he  had  been  pos- 
sessed of." ' 

The  practice  of  depositing  in  the  grave  all  articles 
which  the  deceased  deemed  most  valuable,  obtained 
among  all  the  Southern  tribes.  It  has  been  truthfully 
remarked  that  "in  all  ages  when  the  disengaged  ac- 
t  tivity  of  man  ever  carries  a  keen  and  military  edge 
with  it,  and  his  great  employment  is  necessarily  war 
and  the  chase,  the  weapons  of  both  would  naturally  be 
deposited  with  the  dead." 

The  ancient  Germans  contributed  to  the  funeral 
pile  the  arms  and  the  horse  of  the  deceased.  Among 
the  more  civilized  Grecians  expensive  vases,  mirrors, 
and  ornaments  were  lodged  in  the  tombs  of  the  de- 
parted. The  grave  has  often  proved  the  receptacle 
of  treasure,  and  the  storehouse  of  all  that  was  most 
valuable  among  the  possessions  of  the  deceased. 
The  souls  of  the  Scythian  kings  and  the  Peruvian 
Incas  were,  by  costly  immolations,  richly  furnished 
forth  with  companions,  the  most  select,  for  the  other- 
wise lonely  journey.  Even  the  sepulchre  of  David 
was  made  the  thesaurus  of  more  than  three  thousand 
talents."  In  a  strange  land  this  custom  was  not  neg- 
lected by  the  Indian.  During  the  visit  of  Tomo-chi- 
chi  to  England,  in  1734,  one  of  his  companions  died  in 
London,  of  the  small-pox.     Previous  to  interment  in 

1  Adair's  "History  of  the  American  Indians,''  p.  182.     London,  11*5. 
8  Squier's  "  Antiquities  of  New  York,"  p.  114.     Buffalo,  1851. 


1S6  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

the  church-yard  of  St.  John's,  Westminster,  the  body 
was  sewn  np  in  a  blanket  and  bound  between  two 
boards.  The  clothes  of  the  deceased,  with  a  quantity 
of  glass  beads,  some  pieces  of  silver,  and  other  articles 
of  personal  property,  were  thrown  into  the  grave  and 
buried  with  him. 

The  Spaniards  under  De  Soto  obtained  large 
quantities  of  pearls  by  rifling  the  tombs,  and  pil- 
laging the  temples  in  which  dead  Indian  chiefs  were 
lying  in  state.  The  later  graves  which  the  Cherokees 
have  left  in  Northern  Georgia  assure  us  of  the  fact  that 
this  custom  of  depositing  with  the  dead  all  articles  of 
value,  the  property  of  the  deceased,  was  observed  long 
after  the  establishment  of  commercial  intercourse  be- 
tween the  Indians  and  the  Europeans.  We  are  also 
advised  that  these  deposits  were  held  sacred,  and  that 
among  these  tribes  the  graves  of  the  departed,  no 
matter  how  rich  in  coveted  treasure  they  might  have 
been,  were  never  rifled. 

It  is  to  the  graves  of  the  common  dead  and  the 
tumuli  erected  in  honor  of  departed  chieftains,  priests, 
and  distinguished  warriors,  that  we  are  largely  indebted 
for  many  of  the  most  interesting  and  perfect  relics 
which  grace  our  collections,  and  acquaint  us  with  the 
condition  of  the  arts  among  these  primitive  peoples. 

Returning  from  this  digression,  we  may  assert  that 
these  chieftain-mounds,  when  once  completed,  were 
never  reopened  for  the  reception  of  other  bodies.  The 
fact  that,  as  a  general  rule,  only  a  single  skeleton  is 
found  in  these  mounds,  and  the  further  circumstance 
of  their  prominent  size  and  location,  very  properly,  we 
think,  designate  them  as  the  last  resting-places  of  the 
chiefs  or  distinguished  personages  of  the  tribe.  Upon 
this  supposition  we  are  enabled  the  more  readily  to 


CHIEFTAIX-MOUNDS.  187 

understand  the  secret  of  their  superior  proportions. 
They  may  "be  regarded  as  the  offering  of  the  tribe  or 
community — each  member  with  ready  hand  assisting 
in  erecting  over  the  deceased  leader  a  mound  which, 
while  it  perpetuated  the  name  and  deeds  of  the 
honored  dead  and  remained  a  monument  of  tribal 
respect  and  gratitude,  begat  also  a  pleasing  satisfaction 
in  the  breast  of  all  who  had  aided  in  its  construction. 
Each  of  these  silent,  wasted  mounds  had  its  legends 
transmitted  from  sire  to  son,  its  heroic  memories  which 
brought  the  warm  blood  of  conscious  pride  to  the 
cheek  alike  of  warrior  and  maiden  ;  but  they  have  all 
perished  with  those  whose  delight  it  was  to  perpetuate 
them. 

These  chieftain  or  priest  mounds  may  be  considered 
as  individual  in  their  character,  the  result  of  one  im- 
pulse, the  consummation  of  a  general  labor  prosecuted 
without  intermission  to  completion.  "When  we  affirm 
that  when  once  finished  they  were  never  reopened  to 
admit  the  sepulture  of  parties  other  than  those  in 
whose  honor  they  were  erected,  we  take  no  note  of 
those  secondary  interments,  frequently  occurring  upon 
the  tops  and  sides,  which  were  probably  made  by 
later  peoples,  strangers  to  the  original  and  distinctive 
memories  of  these  tumuli. 

Composed  of  sand,  clay,  mould,  and  sometimes 
of  shells,  the  slope  of  their  sides  is  such  as  would  be 
assumed  by  the  gradual  accumulation  of  loose  material 
piled  from  above.  Often  pits  and  sunken  spaces  in 
the  immediate  neighborhood  indicate  the  localities 
whence  was  obtained  the  earth  expended  in  their 
construction. 

These  primitive  peoples  were  at  one  time  careful 
in  the  erection  of  marked  tumuli  above  deceased  kings 


1S8  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS 

and  priests.  With  inferior  means  at  command,  they 
perpetuated  by  physical  signs  the  memories  of  the 
places  where  they  slept  with  far  greater  zeal  than  did 
the  Europeans  the  graves  of  the  greatest  of  the  red- 
men  who  had  proved  themselves  invaluable  allies,  and 
through  whose  influence  an  infant  colony  was  pre- 
served, in  the  midst  of  a  howling  wilderness,  from 
cruel  attack  and  absolute  massacre. 

Near  Yamacraw  bluff — a  spot  rendered  memorable 
by  the  landing  of  General  Oglethorpe,  the  founder  of 
the  colony  of  Georgia — Tomo-chi-chi,  Mico  of  the  Yam- 
acraws,  extended  the  open  hand  of  welcome  to  the  dis- 
tinguished stranger,  and  took  upon  himself  vows  of 
friendship  which  he  never  ceased  to  observe  until  he 
bowed  his  hoary  head  in  death  not  far  from  the 
ancient  pines  beneath  whose  hospitable  shade  the 
governor  first  pitched  his  tent.  In  the  presence  of  the 
colonists,  few,  feeble  and  filled  with  doubts  and  ap- 
prehensions— before  his  followers  brave  and  jealous 
of  their  moss-clad  forests,  in  a  manner  at  once  expres- 
sive of  genuine  hospitality  and  redolent  of  that  im- 
agination so  characteristic  of  his  race,  he  presented 
General  Oglethorpe  with  a  buffalo-skin  adorned  with 
the  head  and  feathers  of  an  eagle.  "  The  eagle,"  said 
he,  "  is  an  emblem  of  speed,  and  the  buffalo  of  strength. 
The  English  are  as  swift  as  the  bird  and  as  powerful 
as  the  beast,  since  like  the  former  they  flew,  over  the 
seas  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth,  and  like  the 
latter  are  so  strong  that  nothing  can  withstand  them." 
Wisely  divining  in  this  small  band  the  seeds  of  a  great 
nation  whose  superior  intelligence  and  resources  were 
destined  to  exercise  a  controlling  influence  over  his 
people,  he  added ;  "  The  features  of  the  eagle  are  soft 
and  signify  love ;  the  buffalo-skin  is  warm  and  denotes 


BURIAL    OF   TOMO-CHI-CIII.  189 

protection ;  therefore  I  hope  the  English  will  love  and 
protect  the  little  families  of  the  sons  of  the  forest." 

Firm  in  his  friendship,  even  unto  the  end,  at  the 
advanced  age  of  ninety-seven  he  breathed  his  last ; 
and,  dying,  desired  that  his  body  might  be  interred 
among  his  friends,  the  English,  in  Savannah.  This 
request  was  complied  with,  and  he  was  buried  with 
military  honors  in  Percival  Square.1 

It  may  appropriately  be  asked,  Where  is  his 
monument?  Over  this  mico,  the  white  men — those 
whom  he  counselled,  assisted,  and  saved,  and  their 
descendants — have  reared  not  even  a  simple  mound - 
tomb.  To  them  did  he  confide  the  solemnization  of 
his  funeral  rites  and  the  perpetuation  of  his  last 
resting-place,  and  they  have  paid  no  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  his  grave.  Of  such  neglect,  think  we, 
would  not  they  have  been  guilty  whose  primal  wrath 
against  the  early  colonists  was,  through  the  persua- 
sions and  influence  of  this  aged  mico,  turned  into 
friendship. 

To  herself  and  the  recollections  of  her  infant  days, 
to  the  expressed  wishes  of  General  Oglethorpe  who 
purposed  the  erection  of  a  suitable  shaft  in  honor  of 
this  departed  king,  as  ah  honest  acknowledgment  of 
the  debt  for  which  she  stands  bound  to  her  first  and 
best  friend  among  the  red-men,  does  Savannah  owe 
a  fitting  monument  to  the  brave,  the  generous,  the 
noble-hearted  Indian  chief,  the  venerable  Tomo-chi-chi. 

Tumuli  filled  with  numerous  skeletons  may  be 
regarded  as  Family  or  Tribal  Mounds.  The  Indians 
of  Southern   Georgia   frequently   burnt    their    dead. 

1  C.  C.  Jones,  Jr.  "Historical  Sketch  of  Tomo-chi-chi,"  pp.  120-127.  Albany, 
N.  Y.,  1868. 

"Plan  of  the  City  of  Savannah  and  its  Fortification,  by  John  Gerar  William  De 
Brahm,"  p.  36  of  "History  of  the  Province  of  Georgia,"  etc.     Wormsloe,  1849. 


190  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

This  custom,  however,  was  not  universal,  and  it  ob- 
tained to  a  very  limited  extent  among  the  tribes  resi- 
dent in  the  middle  and  upper  portions  of  the  State. 
The  practice  of  reserving  the  skeletons  until  they  had 
multiplied  sufficiently  to  warrant  a  general  cremation 
or  inhumation  seems  to  have  been  adopted. 

It  was  no  easy  task  for  the  aborigines  to  erect  a 
tumulus.  Hence,  saving  the  construction  of  grave- 
mounds  in  honor  of  distinguished  personages,  the  labor 
of  sepulchral  mound-building  was  postponed  until  the 
accumulations  of  the  bone-house  claimed  the  attention 
of  an  entire  community.  Adair  says  that  the  bones  of 
those  who  died  away  from  home  or  were  slain  in 
battle  were  carefully  preserved  and,  at  some  conven- 
ient season,  brought  back  and  interred  in  a  solemn 
manner.  To  be  deprived  of  the  customary  rites  of 
sepulture  was  a  calamity  which  an  Indian  could  not 
contemplate  with  indifference. 

Funeral  rites  the  Eomans  called  justa,  the  Greeks 
BUaca,  thereby  intimating  the  inviolable  obligation 
which  Nature  imposed  upon  the  living  to  perform  the 
Obsequies  of  the  dead.  As  among  these  civilized 
nations  the  belief  existed  that  the  souls  of  the  departed 
could  not  be  admitted  into  the  Elysian  fields  unless 
suitable  funeral  rites  had  been  duly  solemnized,  in 
like  manner  did  the  red-men  cherish  the  faith  that 
a  becoming  observance  of  their  rude'  obsequies  was 
essential  to  the  entrance  of  their  spirits  into  the  hunt- 
ing-grounds of  the  blest.  Here  we  have  an  explana- 
tion of  the  reason  why  they  so  carefully,  in  that  remote 
period,  collected  the  skeletons  of  their  dead  and  laid 
them  to  rest  in  the  burial-places  of  their  kindred. 

Bartram  noticed  among  the  Choctaws  the  follow- 
ing funeral  custom:  "As  soon  as  a  person  is  dead, 


FUNERAL   CUSTOMS    OF  THE   CIIOCTAWS.  191 

they  erect  a  scaffold  eighteen  or  twenty  feet  high, 
in  a  grove  adjacent  to  the  town,  where  they  lay  the 
corpse,  lightly  covered  with  a  mantle.  Here  it  is 
suffered  to  remain,  visited  and  protected  by  the  friends 
and  relations,  until  the  flesh  becomes  putrid,  so  as 
easily  to  part  from  the  bones ;  then  undertakers,  who 
make  it  their  business,  carefully  strip  the  flesh  from 
the  bones,  wash  and  cleanse  them,  and,  when  dry  and 
purified  by  the  air,  having  provided  a  curiously- 
wrought  chest  or  coffin,  fabricated  of  bones  and  splints, 
they  place  all  the  bones  therein.  It  is  then  deposited 
in  the  bone-house — a  building  erected  for  that  purpose 
in  every  town.  When  this  house  is  full,  a  general, 
solemn  funeral  takes  place.  The  nearest  kindred  or 
friends  of  the  deceased,  on  a  day  appointed,  repair 
to  the  bone-house,  take  up  the  respective  coffins,  and, 
following  one  another  in  the  order  of  seniority — the 
nearest  relations  and  connexions  attending  their  re- 
spective corpse,  and  the  multitude  following  after 
them — all,  as  one  family,  with  united  voice  of  alter- 
nate Allelujah  and  lamentation,  slowly  proceed  to  the 
place  of  general  interment,  where  they  place  the  cof- 
fins in  order,  forming  a  pyramid  ;  and  lastly  cover  all 
over  with  earth,  which  raises  a  conical  hill  or  mount."  ' 

These  observations  of  Mr.  Bartram  are  fully  cor- 
roborated by  the  statements  of  Captain  Bossu,3  Mr. 
Adair,3  and  others. 

Upon  the  islands  and  headlands  along  the  coast, 
the  skeletons,  with  a  requisite  amount  of  wood,  were 
first  placed  in  a  pile  upon  the  ground.  Fire  was  then 
applied,  and,  above  the  smouldering  remains  carelessly 

'"Travels   through   North   and   South  Carolina,  Georgia,"  etc.,  pp.  514,  515. 
London,  1*792. 

11  "Travels  through  Louisiana,"  etc.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  298,  299.    London,  1771. 
*  "  History  of  the  American  Indians,"  pp.  183,  et  seq.    Loudon,  1775. 


192  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

Leaped  together,  a  mound  of  earth  was  erected.  The 
charred  bones  and  partially-consumed  fragments  of  wood 
are  seldom  seen  until  we  have  reached  the  level  of  the 
plain  upon  which  the  tumulus  stands.  With  rare  ex- 
ceptions, tribal  mounds  of  this  description  contain  but 
a  single  stratum  of  boues,  showing  that  when  the 
cremation  was  ended  and  the  tumulus  finished,  it  was 
never  reopened.  As  may  well  be  expected,  the  bones 
in  these  mounds  are  disposed  without  order.  Being 
at  best  but  fragmentary  in  their  character,  they  are  in- 
termingled with  ashes,  charred  pieces  of  wood,  broken 
pottery,  cracked  pipes,  and  other  relics  sadly  impaired 
by  the  action  of  fire.  The  fires  kindled  in  solemniza- 
tion of  these  funeral  customs  were  so  intense  as  in 
some  instances  to  crack  the  stone  celts  deposited  with 
the  dead.  Shell  ornaments  entirely  disappear,  and  the 
ordinary  clay -pipes  are  generally  broken  to  pieces. 

La  Hontan  states  that  the  natives  dwelling  upon 
the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  burnt  their  dead,  "  reserv- 
ing the  bodies  "  until  they  had  accumulated  sufficiently 
to  warrant  the  general  burning,  which  was  performed 
out  of  the  villages  and  in  certain  places  set  apart  for 
that  purpose*  Du  Pratz,1  on  the  contrary,  asserts  posi- 
tively that  "  none  of  the  nations  of  Louisiana  were 
acquainted  with  the  custom  of  burning  their  dead." 
In  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Haywood,8  some  of  the  Tennes- 
see mounds  afford  ample  evidence  of  cremation. 

As  we  have  already  intimated,  tumuli  declaring  un- 
mistakably the  fact  that  the  skeletons  which  they  cover 
were  burnt  prior  to  the  inhumation,  are  exceptional  in 
their  character;  and,  so  far  as  our  observation  extends, 
are  chiefly  confined  to  the  coast-region  of  the  State. 

1  "  History  of  Louisiana,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  213.     London,  1763. 

s  "  Natural  and  Aboriginal  History  of  Tennessee,"  p.  138.     Nashville,  1823. 


E-AEEOW    IN    LOW    GROUNDS    OF   THE   RIVANNA.       193 

Why  this  custom  should  have  obtained  in  some  in- 
stances, and  not  in  others,  we  are  unable  to  explain. 

Mr.  Jefferson '  examined,  with  considerable  care,  a 
barrow  on  the  low  grounds  of  the  E-ivanna,  about  two 
miles  above  its  principal  fork,  opposite  some  hills  on 
which  there  had  been  an  Indian  town.  It  proved  to 
be  a  repository  of  the  dead,  and  he  conjectured  that  it 
contained  not  less  than  a  thousand  skeletons.  In  this 
mound  the  bones  lay  in  strata,  separated  by  interven- 
ing spaces  of  earth,  the  skeletons  of  the  different  strata 
indicating  the  fact  that  they  had  lain  for  unequal  pe- 
riods in  the  ground — those  nearest  the  surface  being 
least  decayed.  The  first  collection  of  bones  had  been 
deposited  on  the  ground  and  covered  with  stones  and 
earth.  A  second  had  been  laid  on  this,  and  covered  in 
like  manner.  Other  depositions  were  added  from  time 
to  time,  until  the  tumulus  was  completed. 

Mounds  have  been  opened  by  the  writer,  in  various 
portions  of  Georgia,  whose  construction  was  compassed 
in  a  similar  manner.  Generally,  however,  these  sepul- 
chral tumuli  contain  but  a  single  stratum  of  bones,  and 
these  laid  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth.  The  skeletons 
were  deposited  in  a  horizontal  position,  and  were  often 
piled  one  upon  the  other  in  such  numbers,  that  the 
layer  of  bones,  despite  the  weight  of  the  superincum- 
bent mass  of  earth,  was  sometimes  a  foot  or  more  in 
thickness.  In  building  these  mounds  the  adjacent 
earth  was  used ;  and  it  would  appear  from  numerous 
fragments  of  pottery,  and  from  large  mussel  and  conch- 
shells  intermingled  with  the  soil  constituting  the  tumuli, 
that  the  sand  and  clay  were  first  scooped  up  by  means 
of  these  shells,  and  then  transported  in  terra-cotta  ves- 
sels, many  of  which  were  broken  during  the  operation. 

1 "  Notes  on  Virginia,"  query  xi. 


19-1  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

These  sherds  and  shells  have  no  connection  with  the 
relics  deposited  with  the  dead.  Mr.  Haywood1  sug- 
gests, from  personal  observation,  that  similar  means 
were  employed  in  the  erection  of  some  of  the  burial- 
mounds  of  Tennessee.  Baskets  made  of  split  cane  and 
rushes  were,  doubtless,  freely  engaged  in  the  convey- 
ance of  sand  and  other  materials  for  the  construction 
of  these  tumuli. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  mention  the  particular  locations 
of  tumuli  of  this  class,  because  they  are  still  to  be  seen 
in  nearly  every  part  of  the  State.  In  form  they  are 
circular  or  elliptical,  varying  in  height  from  two  to 
twenty  feet,  and  in  diameter  from  twenty  to  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet.  In  cultivated  fields  many  have 
been  so  sadly  worn  away  by  the  ploughshare  and  the 
action  of  the  elements,  that  they  are  nearly  level  with 
the  ground — fragments  of  bones  and  scattered  relics 
lying  exposed  upon  the  surface. 

1  "  Natural  and   Aboriginal  History  of  Tennessee,"  pp.  138,  139.     Nashville, 
1823. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Shell-Mound?. — Tumulus  on  Stalliug's  Island. — Shell-Heaps  and  their  Contents. — 
Eock-Piles. — Indian  Affection  for  the  Graves  of  their  Departed. — Ancient 
Burial-Ground  on  the  Coast. — Rock-Walls,  Embankments,  and  Defensive  En- 
closures.— Stone  Mountain. — Fortified  Towns  of  the  Southern  Indians. 

We  turn  now  to  the  Shell-Mounds.  It  is  not 
an  exaggeration  to  say  that  some  of  the  islands  and 
localities  bordering  upon  the  salt-water  are  hoary 
with  these  tumuli.  Many  are  burial-mounds,  while 
vast  numbers  of  them  are  little  more  than  the  refuse- 
piles  accumulated,  during  the  lapse  of  years,  about  the 
Indian  settlements.  Those  of  the  latter  sort — com- 
posed of  oyster,  clam,-  mussel,  and  conch  shells,  the 
bones  of  deer,  raccoons,  buffalo,  sea-turtles,  large  birds, 
and  fishes,  intermingled  with  fragments  of  pottery 
and  the  debris  of  the  encampments — remind  us  of 
those  heaps  to  which  the  Danish  archaeologists  have 
given  the  name  of  kjokkenmoddings.  Shell-mounds 
formed  the  common  graves  of  the  Indians  occu- 
pying the  coast.  They  abound  upon  all  the  sea- 
islands,  and  are  thickly  congregated  upon  the  outer 
bluffs  and  along  the  banks  of  salt-water  streams. 
The  admixture  of  shells  imparted  a  permanency  to 
many  small  mounds  which,  otherwise,  would  long 
since  have  been  entirely  obliterated.     Most  of  them 


196  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

contain  more  than  one  skeleton ;  the  bones  being  gen- 
erally disposed  in  a  horizontal  position.  In  a  few  in- 
stances the  dead  were  inhumed  in  a  sitting  posture. 
Only  occasionally  do  the  human  bones  found  in  these 
tumuli  indicate  the  action  of  fire. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  Lower  Creeks  subsisted, 
to  a  large  extent,  upon  oysters  and  fishes.  Bringing 
oysters,  conchs  and  clams  from  their  natural  and  ex- 
haustless  beds  in  the  adjacent  creeks  and  marshes,  they 
carried  them  to  their  villages  and  ate  them.  As  a  neces- 
sary consequence,  there  occurred  a  rapid  accumulation 
of  shells  which  were  carelessly  thrown  into  heaps  near 
the  doors  of  their  lodges.  It  was  just  as  easy  to  use 
these  shells  in  erecting  mounds  over  the  dead  as  to 
cover  the  skeletons  with  sand.  That  such  a  disposi- 
tion was  frequently  made  of  such  refuse  shells  admits 
of  no  question.  When  we  open  these  mounds  it  is  not 
an  unusual  occurrence  to  find,  intermingled  with  the 
shells  and  sand  overlying  the  skeletons,  the  bones  of 
large  fishes,  deer,  and  other  wild  animals,  birds  and 
sometimes  dogs,  accompanied  by  broken  pieces  of 
pottery,  arrow-heads,  flint  knives,  stone  axes,  and 
charred  wood.  The  drift-shells — collected  by  the 
action  of  the  tides  into  ridges  so  common  along  the 
coast— were  also  employed  in  the  construction  of  these 
tumuli.  Some  are  composed  entirely  of  shells.  Others 
are  made  chiefly  of  sand,  with  a  layer  of  shells,  vary- 
ing from  six  inches  to  three  feet  in  thickness,  overly- 
ing the  whole.  Others,  again,  appear  to  have  been 
formed  by  the  careless  admixture  of  shells  and  sand, 
just  as  either  material  at  the  moment  chanced  to  be 
most  convenient.  Others,  still,  consist  of  alternate  lay- 
ers of  human  bones,  sand,  and  shells. 

A   sepulchral   shell-mound  is   rarely   seen   above 


SEPULCHRAL    SHELL-MOUNDS.  197 

thirteen  feet  in  height.  Most  of  them  do  not  rise  more 
than  three  or  four  feet  above  the  plain.  In  form  they 
are  elliptical  and  circular,  with  base-diameters  varying 
from  ten  to  forty  feet.  As  a  rule,  the  human  bones 
and  articles  deposited  in  them  are  in  a  better  state  of 
preservation  than  those  found  in  the  ordinary  earth- 
mounds  on  the  main.  The  dry  sand  of  the  coast  and 
the  shell-covering  afforded  no  mean  defence  against  the 
disintegrating  influences  of  time  and  the  elements.  So 
numerous  are  they  in  some  localities  on  the  sea-islands, 
that  they  mar  the  fertility  of  the  cotton-fields.  Multi- 
tudes of  them  have  been  entirely  levelled  by  continued 
ploughing,  and  nothing  but  scattered  shells  mark  the 
spots  where  they  formerly  stood.  These  tumuli  afford 
physical  proof  of  the  general  and  long-continued  occu- 
pancy of  the  coast-region  by  the  red-men.  A  delight- 
ful climate,  frequent  springs  of  fresh  water,  mild  airs 
in  winter  and  cool  sea-breezes  in  summer,  fish  and 
game  in  abundance,  magnificent  forests,  and  a  variety 
of  indigenous  fruits,  rendered  this  portion  of  the  State 
very  attractive  to  these  improvident  nomads.  Appre- 
ciating these  advantages,  they  availed  themselves  of 
them,  and  formed  settlements  in  this  section  appar- 
ently more  numerous  and  abiding  than  was  their  cus- 
tom elsewhere. 

The  existence  of  these  shell-mounds  is  not  ex- 
clusively confined  to  the  coast.  Take,  for  example,  that 
remarkable  tumulus  located  upon  Stalling's  Island,  in 
the  Savannah  River,  more  than  two  hundred  miles 
from  its  mouth.  Elliptical  in  shape,  with  a  diameter, 
measured  in  the  direction  of  its  major  axis,  of  nearly 
three  hundred  feet,  and  a  minor  diameter  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  feet,  and  with  an  average  elevation  of 
more  than  fifteen  feet,  this  mound  has  been  formed,  to 


19S  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

a  large  extent,  of  the  mussel,  clam,  and  snail  shells  of 
this  fresh-water  stream.  The  layers  of  these  shells  are 
eight  or  ten  inches  in  thickness,  with  intervening 
strata  of  sand.  Human  bones  lie  in  strata.  It  is  a 
huge  necropolis,  and  contains,  at  a  moderate  calcula- 
tion, hundreds  of  skeletons.  It  could  not  have  been 
the  work  of  a  year  or  of  a  generation.  It  is  the  ac- 
cumulation of  successive  and  long-continued  inhuma-. 
tions.  There  is  something  solemnly  impressive  in  the 
thought  that  by  common  consent  this  quiet,  retired, 
isolated,  beautiful  spot  should  have  been  consecrat- 
ed exclusively  to  the  purposes  of  sepulture.  The 
absence  of  grave-mounds  in  its  vicinity,  the  unusual 
dimensions  of  this  tumulus,  the  numerous  skeletons 
entombed  within  its  bosom,  all  attest  the  fact  that  this 
mound  must  have  been  used  as  the  general  cemetery 
of  the  tribes  once  occupying  the  adjacent  hills  and 
valleys. 

Removed  from  the  noise  and  confusion  of  the  vil- 
lages, and  yet  so  near  that  the  bright  rays  of  the  fires 
nightly  kindled  upon  either  bank  revealed  the  out- 
lines of  this  island  of  the  dead — lying  not  in  the  path 
trod  by  the  hunter — away  from  the  conflicting  voices 
of  the  council-lodge  and  the  wild  delights  of  the  place 
of  feasting  and  dancing,  and  yet  just  where  the  eye  of 
affection  could  ever  turn  and  rest  upon  its  hallowed 
form,  this  tumulus  has  stood  for  centuries  and  still 
stands,  a  convincing  proof  of  that  respect  paid  to  their 
dead,  and  of  that  care  bestowed  upon  their  sepulture, 
which  characterized  the  primitive  peoples  of  these 
Southern  forests. 

Who  will  recall  the  associations  which  cluster 
about  this  silent  and  yet  not  voiceless  tomb;  who 
enumerate  the  vicissitudes  which  have  occurred  since 


MOUKD    ON    STALLING'S    ISLAND.  199 

the  first  canoes,  with  measured  dip  and  attendant  train 
of.  mourners,  landed  here  their  precious  burdens  ? 
Whose  memory  will  recount  the  names,  numbers,  and 
deeds  of  those  who  have  been  here  interred — who  can 
tell  the  day  when  the  first  sleeper  was  laid  to  rest,  and 
the  first  shell,  bright  from  the  bosom  of  the  Savannah, 
was  placed  upon  the  new-made  grave  ? 

The  hand  of  the  conqueror  has  been  heavily  laid 
upon  the  descendants  of  those  who  here  builded  this 
memorial  of  their  sorrows.  Even  the  remembrance  of 
their  former  existence  is  fading  from  the  recollection  of 
those  who  have  supplanted  them  in  the  dominion  over 
forest,  hill,  and  river ;  and  yet  decay — more  kind  than 
they — leaves  untouched  this  striking  monument  of 
their  affection  for  the  dead.  The  forest-trees  with 
sturdy  roots  encircle  this  mound — their  overarching 
branches  shielding  its  outlines  from  the  annihilating 
influences  of  the  storm.  The  murmuring  voices  of  the 
stream,  which  so  often  charmed  the  living  ear,  still 
bring  joy  and  gladness  as  in  days  of  yore,  and  the 
song-birds  still  warble  sweetly  their  morning  and 
evening  lays  above  these  nameless  dead.  All  else  is 
hushed  save  the  whispers  of  the  wind  among  the  for- 
est-branches, the  startled  note  of  the  solitary  water- 
fowl, frightened  from  its  retreat  among  the  reeds  by 
the  passing  boat,  and  the  soothing  ripple  of  the  river. 
The  warrior — his  stout  heart  turned  to  clay,  his  spear- 
heads scattered,  his  stone  axe  lying  unused  near  his 
skeleton  hand ;  the  chieftain — his  council-fires  dead, 
his  heroic  deeds  unsung,  his  memory  forgotten;  the 
medicine-man — his  healing  arts  entombed,  his  charms 
crumbled  into  dust,  his  potent  herbs  ungathered  in 
the  tangled  brake;  young  man  and  maiden  upon 
whose  plighted  troth   even   the   cold  moon  beamed 


200  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

kindly;  the  care-worn  mother,  her  toilsome  journey 
ended — the  tender  infant — all  rest  in  one  common 
grave,  and  here  they  will  remain  until  the  last  trump 
shall  summon  both  civilized  and  savage  before  the 
judgment-seat  of  Him  who  is  mightier  than  them  all.1 
Professor  Jeffries  Wyman a  has  furnished  an  inter- 
esting account  of  the  fresh- water  shell-heaps  on  the 
St.  John's  Kiver  in  East  Florida.  The  distribution  of 
such  heaps  is  very  general.  They  are  found  upon  the 
banks  of  most  of  the  fresh-water  rivers  of  Georgia, 
The  largest  which  the  writer  has  examined  are  located 
upon  the  Savannah  Kiver,  in  Columbia  County,  near 
the  confluence  of  the  Great  Kiokee  Creek.  Artificial 
in  their  character,  they  may  in  general  terms  be  de- 
scribed as  the  debris  of  the  long-continued  encamp- 
ments of  the  natives  upon  the  river-bluffs,  while  en- 
gaged in  hunting  and  fishing.  They  are  frequently 
several  hundred  feet  in  length,  and  from  two  to  five 
feet  or  more  in  height.  Fresh-water  mussels  formed 
an  important  article  of  food  with  the  Indians,  and 
were  extensively  gathered  both  for  this  purpose,  and 
for  the  pearls  which  they  contained.  Their  shells  en- 
ter largely  into  the  composition  of  these  heaps.  In- 
termixed with  them  are  seen  numerous  fragments  of 
pottery,  stone  axes,  chisels,  crushing-stones,  awls,  mor- 
tars, net-sinkers,  arrow  and  spear  points,  flint  knives, 
shell  beads,  soapstone  ornaments,  pipes,  and  the  bones 
of  deer,  buffalo,  alligators,  turtles,  raccoons,  of  smaller 
animals,  and  of  birds  and  fishes.  Many  of  the  larger 
bones  are  split  longitudinally,  as  though  the  Indians, 
before   discarding  them,  had   extracted   the  marrow. 

1  See  "Monumental  Remains   of  Georgia,"  by  Charles  C.  Jones,  Jr.     Part 
I.,  p.  18,  et  seq.     Savannah,  1861. 

2  "  An  Account  of  the  Fresh-Water  Shell-Heaps  of  the  St.  John's  River,"  etc., 
reprinted  from  the  American  Naturalist.     Salem,  Mass.,  1868. 


REFUSE-PILES. SHELL-HEAPS.  201 

This  was  done  by  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Southern 
France,  and  by  other  primitive  peoples,  who,  not  con- 
teut  with  devouring  the  flesh  of  the  animals  which 
they  killed,  split,  or  pounded  the  bones  and  sucked 
out  the  animal  juices  contained  in  them.' 

The  size  of  these  refuse-piles  affords  striking  proof 
of  the  long-continued  occupancy  of  these  bluffs  by  the 
Indians,  and  their  contents  advise  us  both  of  the  food 
eaten,  and  the  articles  and  implements  used  by  these 
ancient  peoples.  Vast  quantities  of  net-sinkers  and 
spear  and  arrow  points  were  manufactured  here — the 
surface  of  the  heaps  being  at  some  points  covered  with 
thousands  of  chips  and  partially-formed  implements. 
When  we  come  to  consider  the  use  of  nets,  and  the 
different  modes  of  fishing  adopted  by  the  Southern 
Indians,  we  will  have  occasion  to  refer  to  these 
fresh-water  shell-heaps.  Refuse-piles  of  a  kindred 
character  have  been  observed  all  along  the  Atlantic 
coast  from  the  Bay  of  Fundy  to  Cape  Sable,  and  also 
upon  the  Gulf  coast.  Such  are  extant  in  numbers 
upon  the  Georgia  coast,  indicating  the  favorite  local- 
ities where  the  Indians  congregated  and  subsisted 
upon  oysters,  clams,  conchs,  fishes,  and  animals  and 
birds  native  to  the  region.  The  particular  spots  occu- 
pied by  individual  lodges  or  huts  are  sometimes  thus 
perpetuated.  In  such  instances  we  find  the  circular, 
depressed  space  formerly  covered  by  the  wigwam,  sur- 
rounded by  a  ridge  or  embankment  of  oyster-shells. 
These  refuse-piles  can  be  readily  distinguished  from 
the  sepulchral  shell-mounds. 

In  order  to  designate  the  grave  of  a  remarkable 
warrior,  who  had  fallen  in  battle,  and  whose  body 

1  Sir  John   Lubbock's  "Prehistoric   Times,"   second  edition,   p.  317.     Lon- 
don, 1869. 


202  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

could  not  at  the  time  be  brought  home  by  his  compan- 
ions, the  Cherokees  and  other  nations  inhabiting  hilly 
regions  were  wont  to  cover  the  body  of  the  slain  with 
stones  collected  on  the  spot.  Every  passer-by  con- 
tributed his  stone  to  the  pile,  until  it  rose  into  a 
marked  and  permanent  memorial  of  the  dead.  "  In 
the  woods,"  says  Adair,1  "  we  often  see  innumerable 
heaps  of  small  stones  in  those  places,  where,  accord- 
ing  to  tradition,  some  of  their  distinguished  people 
were  either  killed  or  buried,  till  the  bones  could  be 
gathered :  there  they  add  Pelion  to  Ossa,  still  increas- 
ing each  heaj),  as  a  lasting  monument  and  honour  to 
them,  and  an  incentive  to  great  actions." 

At  a  point  where  a  decisive  battle  had  been  fought 
between  the  Carolinians,  under  General  Middleton,  and 
the  Cherokees,  in  which  many  of  the  latter  had  been 
killed,  and  the  survivors  compelled  to  abandon  their 
settlements  in  the  low  countries  and  betake  themselves 
for  safety  to  inaccessible  retreats  in  the  mountains, 
Bartram 2  observed  "  vast  heaps  of  stones,"  indicating 
the  graves  of  the  red  warriors  who  had  perished 
v  during  the  conflict.  Dr.  Brickell3  affirms  the  exist- 
ence of  monuments  of  this  sort  among  the  Carolina 
Indians. 

In  various  parts  of  middle  and  Cherokee  Georgia 
these  stone-piles  have  attracted  our  notice.  They  con- 
sist simply  of  fragments  of  rock  and  loose  bowlders  col- 
lected from  the  beds  of  adjacent  streams,  or  picked  up 
on  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  piled  one  upon  the 
other  until  the  structure  attained  an  altitude  of  from 
three  to  twelve  feet.     It  is  intimated  by  some  of  the 

1  "History  of  the  American  Indians,"  p.  184.     London,  17*75. 

2  "  Travels  through  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia,"  etc.,  p.  316.   London, 
1792. 

3  "  Natural  History  of  North  Carolina,"  p.  380.     Dublin,  1737. 


MODES    OF   SEPULTURE.  203 

early  travellers  that  tliese  tumuli  were  temporary  in 
tlieir  nature,  and  were  designed  merely  as  a  protection 
to  the  bones  of  the  dead,  until  they  could  be  collected 
and  carried  home  for  interment  in  the  burial-grounds 
of  the  tribe  or  community  of  which  the  deceased  were 
members. 

Within  the  historic  period  some  of  the  North- 
Georgia  tribes,  imitating  the  custom  of  the  Europeans, 
dug  graves  in  the  earth  three  or  four  feet  deep,  lining 
the  bottom  and  sides  with  poles  and  bark.  The  corpse, 
enveloped  in  a  blanket,  was  then  carefully  laid  in  this 
rude  coffin,  a  cover  of  bark  and  poles  being  placed 
above,  so  as  to  protect  it  from  contact  with  the  restored 
earth.  After  the  grave  was  filled,  stones  were  added  to 
give  shape  and  permanency  to  the  place  0f  sepulture. 
The  custom  of  depositing  with  the  dead  all  articles  of 
use  and  ornament  was  scrupulously  observed.  Various 
are  the  articles  of  European  manufacture  which  have 
been  obtained  from  these  later  graves. 

Frequently  the  body  was  hidden  away  in  some  fis- 
sure of  the  rocks,  or  in  the  hollow  of  a  tree — the  en- 
trance, in  each  instance,  being  securely  closed. 

They  often  interred  beneath  the  floor  of  the  cabin, 
and  then  burnt  the  hut  of  the  deceased  over  his  head, 
consuming  such  personal  property  as  was  not  lodged 
in  the  grave,  and  thus  obliterating  all  traces  of  the 
inhumation. 

At  other  times,  apparently  to  avoid  the  trouble 
of  sepulture,  the  dead  bodies  were  thrown  into  some 
neighboring  river.1 

Intercourse  with  swindling  European  traders  caused 
the  Indians  to  neglect  those  laborious  rites  of  sepul- 
ture which  at  an  earlier  period  were  religiously  ob- 

1  "  Memoirs  of  Lieutenant  Timberlake,"  p.  67.     London,  1765. 


204  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

served.  In  this  respect,  as  in  almost  every  other,  they 
became  indifferent  and  demoralized ;  and  yet  up  to  the 
period  of  their  removal  from  the  State,  they  cherished 
an  abiding  attachment  for  the  graves  of  their  kindred 
and  chiefs.  The  idea  of  abandoning  them  was  per- 
haps the  most  difficult  they  could  be  induced  practi- 
cally to  entertain.  "Why,"  asks  the  Viscount  de 
Chateaubriand,1  "  are  the  savages  of  America,  among 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  those  who  pay  the  greatest 
veneration  for  the  dead?  In  national  calamities  the 
first  thing  they  think  of  is  to  save  the  treasures  of  the 
tomb ;  they  recognize  no  legal  property  but  where  the 
remains  of  ancestors  have  been  interred.  When  the 
Indians  have  pleaded  their  right  of  possession,  they 
have  always  employed  this  argument,  which,  in  their 
opinion,  was  irrefragable :  l  Shall  we  say  to  the  bones 
of  our  fathers — Rise  and  follow  us  to  a  strange  land  ? ' 
Finding  that  this  argument  was  disregarded,  what 
course  did  they  pursue  ?  They  carried  along  with  them 
the  bones  which  could  not  follow. 

u  The  motives  of  this  attachment  to  sacred  relics 
may  easily  be  discovered.  Civilized  nations  have  monu- 
ments of  literature  and  the  arts  for  memorials  of  their 
country ;  they  have  cities,  palaces,  towers,  columns, 
obelisks;  they  have  the  furrows  of  the  plough  in 
the  fields  cultivated  by  them ;  their  names  are  en- 
graven in  brass  and  marble;  their  actions  are  re- 
corded in  their  chronicles. 

"  The  savages  have  none  of  these  things ;  their 
names  are  not  inscribed  on  the  trees  of  their  forests ; 
their  huts,  built  in  a  few  hours,  perish  in  a  few  mo- 
ments; the  wooden  spade  with  which  they  till  the 
soil  has  but  just  skimmed  its  surface  without  being 

1  "  Travels  in  America  aud  Italy,"  vol.  i.,  p.  215.     London,  1828. 


BUKIAL-GROUND    ON   THE   GEORGIA    COAST.  205 

capable  of  turning  up  a  furrow;  their  traditional 
songs  are  vanishing  with  the  last  memory  which  re- 
tains, with  the  last  voice  which  repeats  them.  For 
the  tribes  of  the  New  World  there  is,  therefore,  but  a 
single  monument — the  grave.  Take  from  the  savages 
the  bones  of  their  fathers,  and  you  take  from  them 
their  history,  their  laws,  and  their  very  gods ;  you  rob 
these  people  in  future  times  of  the  proof  of  their  exist- 
ence, and  of  that  of  their  nothingness." 

But  a  short  time  since  we  stood  in  the  midst  of  an 
ancient  and  extensive  Indian  burial-ground  on  one  of 
the  low-lying  islands  which  fringe  the  Georgia  coast. 
Earth  and  shell  mounds  were  thickly  congregated  on 
every  hand.  A  bold  spring  issuing  from  a  sandy 
bluff — adjacent  salt-water  streams  and  wide-spread 
marshes  filled  with  oysters,  crabs,  and  fishes,  and 
neighboring  forests  once  abounding  with  game — ren- 
dered this,  in  the  olden  time,  a  spot  highly  attractive 
to  the  red-men.  The  solemnity  of  death  and  of  deso- 
lation— so  far  at  least  as  this  entombed  race  was  con- 
cerned— rested  upon  every  thing.  Even  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  locality  were  forgotten,  and  the  grand  old 
live-oaks  which  knew  these  sleepers  during  their  wak- 
ing hours  whispered  no  legends  of  their  customs,  their 
wars,  their  loves,  their  lives,  or  their  deaths.  Their 
feeble  "  footprints  on  the  sands  of  time "  had  been 
obliterated  by  the  tread  of  a  statelier  civilization,  and 
there  were  none  to  care  for  their  graves.  The  same 
sun  was  sinking  to  his  rest.  The  breath  of  the  myrtle 
and  the  orange  still  perfumed  the  ambient  air.  Kin- 
dred waves  washed  the  bermuda-covered  shore  and 
dashed  their  spray,  as  in  former  days,  against  the  roots 
of  the  vine-clad  cedars.  Eagles  of  the  same  bold  flight 
soared  majestically  in  the  tranquil  heavens,  and  contig- 


206  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

uous  woods  were  vocal  with  the  notes  of  birds  native 
here  for  centuries.  The  same  blue  sky,  the  same  soft 
sea-breezes,  the  same  generous  mother  earth,  kindred 
forests  and  flowers,  the  same  loves  and  voices  of  Na- 
ture, but  all  else  how  changed  !  The  living  Indian 
frequented  no  more  his  favorite  groves.  Autumnal 
leaves  long  ago  covered  the  last  trace  of  his  rude  hut. 
His  watch-fires  were  dead.  His  council-lodge  years 
ago  mouldered  into  utter  decay.  His  village  was  con- 
verted into  a  cotton-field,  and  the  ploughboy  tram- 
pled upon  and  furrowed  mound-tombs  hallowed  by 
unrecorded  memories  of  chiefs,  warriors,  priests,  medi- 
cine-men, and  the  nameless  dead  of  tribe  and  family. 
Never  more  will  weeping  mother  with  trembling  hand 
fashion  the  funeral-vase.  The  sorrowings  circle  will 
never  again  assemble  around  the  sepulchral  fires,  nor 
stalwart  arms  above  the  ashes  of  the  dead  heap  the 
grave-mound.  Beaten  upon  by  the  rains  and  wasted 
by  the  winds,  there  will  soon  be  scarce  a  vestige  of 
these  tumuli.  Few,  if  any,  will  gather  up  and  deposit 
in  some  secure  resting-place  these  neglected  bones  as 
they  whiten  in  the  sun  and  crumble  into  dust  amid 
the  fields  of  the  present  owners  of  the  soil. 

"  Mors  sola  fatetur 
Quantula  sint  hominum  corpuscula." 

The  world,  waxing  old,  forgets  the  names,  palaces, 
pyramids,  and  sky-searching  towers  even  of  those  who 
once  held  mighty  sway  over  vast  domains;  and,  in  the 
wreck  of  ages  whole  nations,  living  and  dying  without 
letters,  are  remedilessly  engulfed  in  the  great  ocean  of 
oblivion. 

As  we  mused  amid  these  silent,  storm-beaten 
graves,  the  mournful  strains  of  the  Coplas  of  Man- 


ROCK-WALLS,    ENCLOSURES,    ETC.  207 

rique  entered  with  peculiar  pathos  into  our  saddened 
thoughts. 

"  Our  lives  are  rivers  gliding  free 
To  that  unfathomed,  boundless  sea — 

The  silent  grave. 
Thither  all  earthly  pomp  and  boast 
Roll,  to  be  swallowed  up  and  lost 

In  one  dark  wave. 
Thither  the  mighty  torrents  stray, 
Thither  the  brook  pursues  its  way, 

And  tinkling  rill. 
There  all  are  equal.     Side  by  side, 
The  poor  man  and  the  son  of  pride 

Lie  calm  and  still." 

We  conclude  this  account  of  the  more  prominent 
traces  of  early  constructive  skill  by  an  allusion  to  the 
existence  of  rock- walls,  embankments  of  earth,  and 
enclosures  which  were  designed,  we  think,  principally 
for  defensive  purposes.  The  circumvallation  by  means 
of  which  the  top  of  ';  Brown's  mound "  was  fortified 
has  already  been  mentioned  and  described. 

About  half-way  up  Stone  Mountain,  in  De  Kalb 
County,'  where  the  acclivity  becomes  very  marked  as 
one  ascends  the  western  slope,  on  both  sides  of  the 
usual  pathway  are  the  remains  of  a  rock-wall  which 
was  originally  intended  for  the  protection  of  the  upper 
portion  of  the  mountain.  This  wall  is  still  in  some 
places  two  feet  high,  and  is  composed  of  fragments  of 
rock,  all  capable  of  manual  amotion,  piled  one  upon 
the  other.  At  either  end  this  wall  extended  to  the 
j)recipitous  sides  of  the  mountain  where — its  defensive 
presence  being  no  longer  necessary — access  to  the  sum- 
mit was  either  altogether  denied  or  rendered  so  difn- 
tcult  and  perilous  as  to  preclude  the  possibility  of  any 
thing  like  a  combined  attack.     Where  the  approach  to 


208  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

the  upper  part  of  the  mountain  was  most  facile,  and 
where,  by  common  consent,  a  path  or  trail  seems  to 
have  been  established,  an  opening  occurs  in  the  wall. 
This  opening  or  gate-way  was  effectually  commanded  by 
a  ledge  of  rocks  a  little  higher  up  the  mountain  and 
directly  in  front  of  the  gap,  constituting  a  formidable 
natural  breastwork  from  which,  in  all  security,  the 
defenders  could  have  launched  their  arrows  and  spears 
against  an  enemy  seeking  to  force  a  passage  along  this, 
the  most  practicable  route  up  the  mountain.  In  anti- 
cipation of  an  attack,  this  opening  could  have  been 
rapidly  closed,  and  thus  the  entire  defensive  line  effect- 
ually established.  Below  this  circumvallation  are 
numerous  fragments  of  rock  which,  originally  forming 
a  part  of  the  wall,  have,  in  the  course  of  time,  become 
detached  and  entirely  separated  from  it. 

This  huge  pile  of  granite,  towering  in  naked  grand- 
eur far  above  the  adjacent  valleys,  was  a  favorite 
resort  of  the  Indians  during  the  summer  months. 
In  many  places  upon  the  summit  of  Stone  Mountain 
may  still  be  seen  the  indications  of  this'  former  occu- 
pancy. 

Similar  rock-walls  exist  upon  Mount  Yonah,  and 
guard  the  summits  of  other  solitary  peaks  within  the 
confines  of  Georgia.  From  their  number  and  location 
it  would  apj>ear  that  these  fortified  mountain-tops  con- 
stituted the  retreats  of  the  natives  when  sore  pressed  in 
the  plains.  Protracted  sieges  were  then  unknown, 
and  in  the  nature  of  things  impossible.  Hence,  pur- 
suit was  speedily  abandoned  when  the  advance  was 
interrupted  by  formidable  barriers  of  this  descrip- 
tion. 

Nor  were  these  rock-defences  confined  exclusively 
to   the   mountains.      They  sometimes   appear  in  the 


EARTH-EMBANKMENTS. FORTIFIED    TOWNS.         209 

valleys,  and  are  circular,  quadrangular,  or  irregular  iu 
shape  according  to  the  physical  conformation  of  the 
locality  for  the  protection  of  which  they  were  erected. 

We  note  also  embankments  of  earth  from  two  to 
four  feet  high  and  from  three  to  five  feet  in  width, 
generally  circular  in  form  and  sometimes  semilunar  in 
shape — in  the  latter  case  the  horns  extending  to  and 
resting  upon  some  stream.  Within  such  enclosures  are 
embraced  areas  varying  in  size  from  two  to  twenty 
acres,  and  it  is  suggested  that,  in  many  instances,  these 
parapets  formed  the  foundations  in  which  were  securely 
embedded  the  lower  ends  of  the  stockades  with  which 
the  Southern  Indians  were  wont  to  fortify  their  prin- 
cipal towns.  Less  nomadic  in  their  habits  than  the 
Northern  and  Western  tribes,  and  bestowing  no  little 
attention  upon  the  cultivation  of  maize,  the  southern 
nations  rendered  permanent  their  seats  and  protected 
their  homes  against  the  incursions  of  wandering  bands 
who  from  time  to  time  sought  to  dispossess  them 
of  their  cleared  fields,  their  fish-preserves,  and  their 
substantial  granaries. 

In  plate  xxx.  of  the  Brevis  Narratio,1  De  Bry 
furnishes  us  with  a  sjiirited  sketch  of  a  walled  town 
built  by  the  Florida  Indians.  The  following  is  a 
translation  of  the  accompanying  text :  "  The  Indians 
build  their  towns  in  this  wise.  Having  made  choice 
of  a  spot  near  a  running  stream,  they  level  it  off  as 
evenly  as  they  can.  They  next  draw  a  furrow  of  the 
size  of  the  intended  town,  in  the  form  of  a  circle,  in 
which  they  plant  large  round  stakes,  twice  the  height 
of  a  man,  and  set  closely  together.  At  the  place  where 
the  entrance  is  to  be,  the  circle  is  somewhat  drawn  in 

1  Francoforti  ad  Moenum,  anno  1591. 


210  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

after  the  fashion  of  a  snail-shell,  making  the  opening 
so  narrow  as  not  to  admit  more  than  two  at  a  time. 
The  bed  of  the  stream  is  also  turned  into  this  entrance. 
At  the  head  of  the  entrance  a  small  round  building  is 
usually  erected :  within  the  passage  is  placed  another. 
Each  of  them  is  pierced  with  slits  and  holes  for 
observation,  and  is  handsomely  finished  oif  after  the 
manner  of  the  country.  In  these  guard-houses  are 
placed  those  sentinels  who  can  scent  the  trails  of  ene- 
mies at  a  great  distance.  As  soon  as  their  sense  of  smell- 
ing tells  them  that  some  are  near,  they  hasten  out, 
and,  having  found  them,  raise  an  alarm.  The  inhab- 
itants, on  hearing  the  shouting,  immediately  fly  to 
the  defense  of  the  town,  armed  with  bows,  arrows, 
and  clubs. 

"  In  the  middle  of  the  town  stands  the  king's  palace, 
sunk  somewhat  below  the  level  of  the  ground,  on  ac- 
count of  the  heat  of  the  sun.  Around  it  are  ranged 
the  houses  of  the  nobles,  all  slightly  covered  with 
palm  '  branches ;  for  they  make  use  of  them  only  during 
nine  months  of  the  year,  passing,  as  we  have  said,  the 
other  three  months  in  the  woods.  When  they  return, 
they  take  to  their  houses  again ;  unless,  indeed,  they 
have  been  burned  down  in  the  mean  time  by  their  ene- 
mies, in  which  case  they  build  themselves  new  ones  of 
similar  materials.  Such  is  the  magnificence  of  Indian 
palaces." 

In  plate  xix.  of  the  "Admiranda  Narratio,"  we 
have  a  plan  of  the  town  of  Pomeiooc,  and  are  informed 
that  while  the  villages  of  the  Virginia  Indians  were 
also  defended  by  stockades,  the  poles  inserted  in  the 
ground  were  smaller  and  less  strong  than  those  used  by 
the  Florida  tribes.     Both  the  Gentleman  of  Elvas  and 

1  Palmetto. 


FORTIFIED   TOWNS.  211 

Hernandez  de  Biedma  allude  to  the  existence  of  stock- 
aded forts  defended  by  the  natives.1 

Du  Pratz,2  speaking  of  the  Louisiana  Indians,  says : 
"When  a  nation  is  too  weak  to  defend  itself  in  the 
field,  they  endeavor  to  protect  themselves  by  a  fort. 
This  fort  is  built  circularly  of  two  rows  of  large  logs  of 
wood,  the  logs  of  the  inner  row  being  opposite  to  the 
joining  of  the  logs  of  the  outer  row.  These  logs  are 
about  fifteen  feet  long,  fi\;e  feet  of  which  are  sunk  in 
the  ground.  The  outer  logs  are  about  two  feet  thick, 
and  the  inner  about  half  as  much.  At  every  forty 
paces  along  the  wall  a  circular  tower  jets  out ;  and  at 
the  entrance  of  the  fort,  which  is  always  next  to  the 
river,  the  two  ends  of  the  wall  pass  beyond  each  other 
and  leave  a  side  opening.  In  the  middle  of  the  fort 
stands  a  tree  with  its  branches  lopt  off  within  six  or 
eight  inches  of  the  trunk,  and  this  serves  for  a  watch 
tower.  Hound  this  tree  are  some  huts  for  the  protec- 
tion of  the  women  and  children  from  random  arrows ; 
but  notwithstanding  all  these  precautions  for  defence, 
if  the  besieged  are  but  hindered  from  coming  out  to 
water,  they  are  soon  obliged  to  surrender." 

The  town  of  Mauilla,  where  De  Soto's  army  en- 
countered such  determined  resistance  and  loss  at  the 
hands  of  the  Alibamons,  was  strongly  fortified  by  piles 
driven  in  the  ground  "  with  timbers  athwart,  rammed 
with  long  straw  and  earth  between  the  hollow  spaces," 
so  that  the  work,  in  the  language  of  Herrera,  "  looked 
like  a  wall  smoothed  with  a  trowel."  At  intervals  of 
eighty  paces  were  towers  in  which  eight  men  could 

1  "  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto,"  translated  by  Buckingham 
Smith.     No.  V.  Bradford  Club  Series,  pp.  99,  100,  248.     New  York,  1866. 
a  "  History  of  Louisiana,"  etc.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  251,  etscq.     London,  1763. 


212  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN"  INDIANS. 

fight.     These  were  loop-holed,  and  the  town  was  en- 
tered by  means  of  two  gates. 

It  is  probable  that  most  of  the  earth-walls  or 
parapets  in  the  valleys,  with  traces  of  an  exterior 
ditch  and  sometimes  of  an  interior  trench  also,  indi- 
cate simply  the  locations  of  the  palisades  planted  for 
the  protection  of  ancient  towns.  The  upright  position 
and  defensive  power  of  these  posts,  inserted  in  the 
ground,  would  have  been  materially  strengthened  by 
a  bank  of  earth  thrown  up  on  both  sides  of  the  stock- 
ade; and  nothing  would  be  more  natural  than  the 
presence  of  ditches  or  trenches,  both  within  and  with- 
out, whence  material  was  obtained  for  this  purpose. 
In  these  enclosures  the  position  of  the  gate- ways  is  often 
quite  distinct. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Stone  Graves  in  Xacoochee  Valley  and  elsewhere. — Copper  Implements  and  the 
Use  of  that  Metal  among  the  Southern  Indians. — Cane-Matting. — Shell 
Drinking-Cups. — Shell  Pins. — Age  of  Stone  Graves. — Evidence  of  Commerce 
among  the  Aborigines. 

In  the  upper  part  of  Nacoochee  Valley,  and  near 
its  western  extremity,  is  a  prominent  earth-mound. 
Located  not  far  from  the  Chattahoochee  River,  and  ris- 
ing some  twenty  feet  or  more  above  the  surface  of  the 
surrounding  valley,  it  has  long  constituted  a  marked 
feature  in  this  beautiful  region.  For  many  years 
its  slopes  and  summit  have  been  cultivated,  and, 
within  the  recollection  of  the  older  inhabitants, 
this  tumulus  has  lost  much  of  its  original  dimen- 
sions. Elliptical  in  shape,  it  has  a  flat  top,  declin- 
ing somewhat  toward  the  southwest.  Measured  in 
a  northeasterly  and  southwesterly  direction,  at  right 
angles,  its  base-diameters  are,  respectively,  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet ; 
while  its  apex-diameters,  ascertained  in  the  same  direc- 
tions, do  not  fall  short  of  ninety  and  sixty  feet.  It  is 
entirely  artificial,  and  appears  to  be  wholly  composed 
of  the  earth  gathered  from  the  neighborhood  of  its 
base.  There  are  no  terraces,  the  sides  sloping  gradu- 
ally from   the  summit.     Tradition  has  preserved  no 


214  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

memories  of  the  people  by  whom  it  was  erected,  and 
its  treasures,  if  any,  are  still  concealed  within  its  own 
bosom. 

In  June,  1870,  Capt.  J.  H.  Nichols,  while  ploughing 
in  the  vicinity  of  this  tumulus,  discovered,  several 
inches  below  the  surface  of  the  field,  a  number  of 
large  stone  slabs.  They  were  lying  at  a  remove  of 
about  thirty  feet  from  the  western  slope  of  the 
mound.  At  a  loss  to  account  satisfactorily  for  their 
presence  in  this  locality,  and  his  curiosity  being  ex- 
cited, he  set  about  removing  them.  During  the  prog- 
ress of  the  investigation,  he  unearthed  three  stone 
graves,  quite  near  each  other,  but  not  disposed  in  a 
uniform  direction.  These  graves  were  parallelogram- 
mic  in  shape,  being  seven  feet  long,  three  feet  wide, 
and  a  little  more  than  two  feet  and  a  half  deep.  They 
were  all  filled  with  earth,  and  the  surface  of  the  field 
above  them  was  somewhat  elevated  beyond  the  level 
of  the  surrounding  valley.  The  sides  consisted  of 
rough  slabs  of  slate,  between  two  and  three  feet  long, 
and  about  two  feet  wide,  set  up  on  end.  The  bottom 
of  the  central  grave  was  paved  with  oval  bowlders 
which  had  evidently  been  obtained  from  the  bed  of 
the  Chattahoochee.  But  one  of  the  three — and  that 
the  central  grave — was  covered.  For  the  covering, 
or  lid,  flat  slabs  of  stone  rather  more  than  three  feet  in 
length  had  been  employed ;  so  that  when  they  rested 
upon  the  upright  sides  and  ends  of  the  grave,  the  en- 
closure of  this  vault  or  rude  sarcophagus  was  com- 
plete. 

In  this  central  grave  a  male  skeleton,  measuring 
more  than  six  feet,  lay  extended  at  full  length.  Each 
of  the  other  two  graves  contained  the  bones  of  more 
than  one  skeleton   lying  in  disorder,   and   carelessly 


STONE    GRAVES   IN   KACOOCHEE    VALLEY.  215 

piled  in  without  any  regard  to  regularity.  It  was 
obvious  that  these  bones  were  in  a  detached  condition 
when  they  were  placed  in  these  enclosures.  It  seemed 
impossible  from  them  to  construct  distinct  and  com- 
plete skeletons.  When  removed  from  the  graves  and 
exposed  to  the  air,  most  of  them  crumbled.  Further 
investigation  will  probably  develop  the  existence  of 
other  stone  graves  of  similar  construction  in  this  vi- 
cinity. 

So  far  as  we  are  informed,  these  are  the  first  an- 
cient stone  graves  which  have  been  observed  within 
the  geographical  limits  of  Georgia.  We  have  already 
seen  that  shell  and  earth  mounds  abound  along  the 
coast.  The  valleys  of  the  Savannah,  the  Chattahoo- 
chee, the  Etowah,  the  Oostenaula,  the  Alatamaha, 
and  of  other  rivers,  are  rendered  remarkable  by  the 
presence  of  tumuli  august  in  their  proportions.  Even 
the  lonely  pine-barren  region  is  not  wholly  wanting 
in  these  proofs  of  the  former  occupancy  of  the  red 
race.  In  Cherokee  Georgia  heaps  of  stones  desig- 
nate the  last  resting-places  of  ihe  Indians,  while  a 
cleft  in  the  rock,  a  hollow  tree,  or  a  small  mound 
often  formed  a  hiding-place  for  the  dead.  In  other 
portions  of  the  State  regular  inhumations  occurred 
with  but  slight  external  marks  to  commemorate  the 
places  of  sepulture.  Although  it  was  confidently 
believed  that  the  stone-grave  makers  of  the  Tennes- 
see and  Cumberland  Valleys  might  have  crossed  the 
mountains  which  intervened  and  possessed  themselves 
of  the  pleasant  valleys  of  Georgia,  the  fact  that  they 
had  actually  done  so,  and,  in  accordance  with  their  es- 
tablished custom,  deposited  their  dead  in  rude  sar- 
cophagi in  these  localities,  was  never  fully  established 
until  by  the  recent  investigations  of  Capt.  Nichols. 


216  ANTIQUITIES    OF   TIIE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

Bartram  '  observed  in  the  environs  of  Keowe,  "  on 
the  bases  of  the  rocky  hills  immediately  ascending 
from  the  low  grounds  near  the  river  bank,  a  great 
number  of  very  singular  antiquities,  the  work  of  the 
ancients."  They  were  between  four  and  five  feet 
in  length,  two  feet  high,  three  feet  wide,  and  con- 
structed of  four  flat  stones — two  set  on  edge  forming 
the  sides,  a  third  closing  one  end,  and  a  large  flat 
stone  placed  horizontally,  on  the  top  of  these  three 
completing  the  enclosure — the  other  end  being  left 
open.  He  could  not  determine  whether  they  were 
ovens,  sacrificial  altars,  or  sepulchres,  and  all  inquiries 
failed  to  elicit  any  definite  information  with  regard  to 
their  uses,  both  from  the  Indians  and  the  trader  who 
accompanied  him.  These  structures  were  uj)on  the 
surface  of  the  ground  and  varied  in  their  dimensions. 

To  Mr.  Haywood2  we  are  indebted  for  early  no- 
tices of  the  existence  of  stone  graves  in  Tennessee, 
at  not  a  great  remove  from  the  boundary-line  of 
Georgia.  Professor  Troost  found  them  in  the  Cumber- 
land Valley,  and  described  them  "  as  rude  fabrics  com- 
posed of  rough  flat  stones  (mostly  a  kind  of  slaty  lime- 
stone, or  slaty  sandstone,  both  abundant  in  our  State). 
Such  flat  stone  was  laid  on  the  ground  in  an  excava- 
tion made  for  the  purpose;  upon  it  were  put  (edge- 
wise) two  similar  stones  of  about  the  same  length  as 
the  former,  and  two  small  ones  were  put  at  both 
extremities  so  as  to  form  an  oblong  cavity,  lined  with 
stones,  of  the  size  of  a  man ;  the  place  for  the  head 
and  feet  had  the  same  dimensions.  When  a  cofiin 
was  to  be  constructed  next  to  it,  one  of  the  side-stones 

1  "Travels,"  etc.,  p.  370.     London,  1792, 

2  "  Natural  and  Aboriginal  History  cf  Tennessee,"  pp.  123,  201-207.    Nash- 
ville, 1823. 


STONE    GRAVES.  217 

served  for  both,  and  consequently  they  lay  in  straight 
rows,  in  one  layer  only.  I  never  found  one  above  the 
other."  ' 

On  the  banks  of  the  Merameg,  about  fifteen  miles 
above  the  confluence  of  that  river  with  the  Mississippi, 
Mr.  Say  in  1819  observed  numerous  stone  graves. 
They  did  not  rise  above  the  general  surface  of  the 
ground,  but  their  presence  was  readily  ascertained  by 
the  projecting  vertical  stones  which  enclosed  them. 
The  sides  of  the  graves  were  neatly  constructed  of 
long  flat  stones  vertically  implanted  and  adapted  to 
each  other,  edge  to  edge,  so  as  to  form  continuous 
walls.  Their  coverings  consisted  of  flat  stones  placed 
horizontally  above  them.  These  graves  varied  in 
length  from  three  to  six  feet.  They  were  filled  with 
earth,  and  the  bones  which  they  contained  appeared  to 
have  been  deposited  after  they  had  been  separated 
from  the  flesh,  and  from  each  other,  in  accordance  with 
a  custom  which  obtains  among  some  Indian  tribes 
even  to  the  present  day.  In  some  of  these  vaults 
rude  pottery  was  found.  It  had  been  represented 
that  these  graves  contained  the  skeletons  of  a  diminu- 
tive race  of  men,  but  a  careful  examination  of  their 
contents  proved  conclusively  the  utter  falsity  of  the 
statement.  Near  the  city  of  St.  Louis  more  graves 
of  this  description  were  observed.  Mr.  Say  express- 
es the  opinion  that  these  sepulchral  chambers  are 
more  modern  than  the  tumuli  which  abound  in  this 
region.4 

In  the  State  of  Missouri,  between  the  river  Aux 
Vaix  and  the  Saline,  on  the  farm  of  a  Mr.  Bogy,  are 

1  Transactions  American  Ethnological  Society,  vol.  i.,  p.  359. 

2  "Account  of  an  Expedition  from  Pittsburgh  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,"  etc., 
compiled  from  the  Notes  of  Major  Long,  etc.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  55-57.     London,  1823. 


218  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEKN    INDIANS. 

many  small  elevations,  evidently  artificial,  with  trees 
from  fourteen  to  eighteen  inches  in  diameter  growing 
npoh  them.  They  contain  graves,  the  outlines  of 
which  are  formed  of  sharp  stones  standing  on  edge 
and  sloping  inward  at  the  bottom.1 

In  May,  1843,  Dr.  A.  Wislizenus  visited  and  ex- 
amined quite  a  number  of  stone  graves  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Prairie  du  Kocher,  Randolph  County, 
Illinois,  three  miles  east  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and 
not  far  from  old  Fort  Chartres. 

His  description  is  as  follows :  in  general  construc- 
tion they  were  coffin  like — their  side-walls,  top,  and 
bottom,  being  formed  by  flat  limestones  joined  to- 
gether without  cement.  The  size  of  the  grave  was 
adapted  to  that  of  the  person  to  be  buried  in  it,  vary- 
ing in  length  from  one  and  a  half  to  seven  feet,  in 
width  from  one  foot  to  eighteen  inches,  and  in  depth 
from  one  foot  to  a  foot  and  a  half.  The  top  layer  of 
stones  was  seldom  deeper  than  half  a  foot  below  the 
ground.  Although  located  near  each  other,  no  order 
was  observed  in  the  position  and  direction  of  these 
graves.2 

To  Professor  Charles  Rau  I  am  indebted  for  the 
following  memoranda  of  his  researches  among  the  stone 
graves  of  Illinois : 

Indian  cemeteries  are  of  frequent  occurrence  in  the 
"  American  Bottom,"  which  extends  along  the  bank  of 
the  Mississippi,  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  is  bounded 
toward  the  east  by  the  picturesque  "  Bluffs  " — an  ex- 
tended range  of  elevations  indicating  the  former  left 
bank  of  the  "Father  of  Waters."  These  cemeteries 
are  usually  found  on  the  brow  of  a  hill,  in  accordance 

1  See  Bulletin  American  Ethnological  Society,  vol.  i.,  pp.  49,  50. 
8  See  Transactions  St.  Louis  Academy  of  Science,  vol.  i.,  pp.  66,  67. 


STONE    GRAVES    IN    ILLINOIS.  219 

with  the  custom  of  the  Indians  to  select  elevated 
places  for  burying  their  dead.  The  graves  consist  of 
rough  limestone  slabs,  loosely  put  together  at  right 
angles,  so  as  to  form  a  kind  of  stone  coffin  enclosing 

O  7  O 

the  corpse  on  all  sides.  The  bottom,  sides,  and  cover, 
are  all  formed  of  stone  slabs.  Rectangular  in  shape, 
these  graves  vary  in  length  according  to  the  size  of  the 
occupant.  Their  average  depth  is  about  three  feet — the 
top  stones  being  covered  with  earth.  The  side-slabs 
protruding  a  few  inches  above  the  ground  indicate  the 
single  graves.  These  are  often  arranged  in  rows  con- 
tiguous to  each  other,  but  are  sometimes  distributed 
without  any  view  to  regularity.  You  may  see,  for 
instance,  at  the  same  burial-place,  six  or  seven  graves 
in  a  row,  and  a  few  others  joining  them  in  a  quite 
unsymmetrical  way.  No  fixed  rule  prevailed  in  the 
location  of  these  graves  with  reference  to  the  cardinal 
points.  Professor  Rau  examined  a  group  of  seven  or 
eight  situated  on  a  high  eminence  of  the  Bluff,  a  mile 
northeast  of  the  conical  rock  formation  known  as  the 
"  Sugar  Loaf,"  near  the  town  of  Columbia,  in  Monroe 
County,  Illinois.  One  of  these  graves  was  nearly 
quadrangular  in  shape,  measuring  between  five  and 
six  feet  each  way.  After  removing  the  covering  he 
found  a  skeleton  in  a  rather  decayed  state,  lying  flat 
on  the  bottom  stones,  with  the  arms  not  extend- 
ed along  the  side  of  the  body,  but  stretched  out  at 
right  angles  with  it.  Hence  the  unusual  width  of  the 
grave.  The  skeleton  was  that  of  a  medium-sized 
individual;  skull  not  very  large,  and  the  teeth,  al- 
though much  worn,  in  excellent  condition.  Not  only 
the  grave  but  also  the  skull,  and  even  the  hollows 
of  the  bones  were  filled  with  earth.  No  trace  of  any 
manufacture  appeared  in  this  grave. 


220  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEEN    INDIANS. 

In  another  cemetery  similar  to  that  just  alluded 
to,  but  containing  more  graves,  situated  on  the  spur  of 
the  Bluffs,  five  miles  south  of  Columbia,  decayed 
human  bones  were  seen  embedded  without  order  in 
various  portions  of  the  earth  which  filled  one  of  the 
graves.  Fragments  of  a  skull  were  found  quite  dis- 
tant from  each  other.  From  the  thinness  of  the  frag- 
ments and  their  curvature,  it  was  conjectured  that  the 
remains  were  those  of  a  child  perhaps  ten  or  twelve 
years  old.  Nothing  of  artificial  origin  was  discovered 
in  this  grave.  Obviously  it  had  never  been  disturbed, 
for  the  ground  within  the  stone  enclosure  was  very 
hard  and  traversed  by  roots  as  large  as  a  man's  arm. 
In  this  instance  the  bones  must  have  been  interred 
after  the  flesh  had  been  removed.  It  is  a  fact  well 
remembered  by  many  persons  in  this  neighborhood 
that  the  Indians  who  inhabited  this  region  during  the 
early  part  of  the  present  century  (probably  Kickapoos) 
buried  their  dead  in  stone  coffins.  Dr.  Shoemaker, 
who  resided  on  a  farm  near  the  town  of  Columbia,  in 
1861,  showed  Professor  Rau,  in  one  of  his  fields,  the 
empty  stone  grave  of  an  Indian  who  had  been  killed 
by  one  of  his  own  tribe,  and  there  interred  within  the 
recollection  of  some  of  the  old  farmers  of  Monroe 
County.  The  skeleton,  which  had  been  exhumed  a 
few  years  previously,  was  in  a  good  state  of  preserva- 
tion, and  Dr.  Shoemaker  used  the  skull  in  imparting 
practical  instruction  to  a  medical  student  then  in  his 
office. 

Other  small  cemeteries  of  a  like  character  were  ob- 
served by  Professor  Rau  in  the  neighborhood  of  "  Sul- 
phur Springs,"  in  Jefferson  County,  Missouri.  In  them 
several  food-vases  were  found. 

By  far  the  most  extensive  investigations,  however, 


STONE    GRAVES    IN   TENNESSEE.  221 

are  those  recently  conducted  by  Professor  Joseph 
Jones,  M.  D.,  in  the  Cumberland  Valley  and  in  various 
other  localities  in  the  State  of  Tennessee. 

Most  of  the  stone  graves,  examined  by  Dr.  Jones, 
were  parallelogrammic  in  form.  Some  of  them  were 
coffin-shaped,  others  were  square ;  and,  in  one  instance, 
in  the  centre  of  a  mound,  he  observed  a  hexagonal 
stone  grave,  with  parallelogrammic  stone  graves  radi- 
ating on  all  sides  from  it.  Some  graves  were  only  ten 
inches  long,  and  five  inches  wide.  These  contained 
the  bones  of  infants.  The  largest  he  saw  were  about 
eio-ht  feet  lono-,  and  two  feet  and  a  half  wide.  Inter- 
mediately,  were  graves  of  all  sizes.  Their  depths  va- 
ried from  ten  inches  to  a  foot  and  a  half.  As  a  rule 
the  larger  graves  contained  but  a  single  skeleton.  In 
the  square  graves  it  was  not  unusual  to  find  portions 
of  more  than  one  skeleton:  for  example,  two  skulls 
were  not  infrequent.  The  flesh  had  evidently  been 
removed  from  the  bones  before  they  were  placed  in 
these  receptacles.  On  more  than  one  occasion  he  no- 
ticed the  bones  of  the  toe  inserted  in  the  nasal  open- 
ings of  the  skull.  The  body  was  never  enclosed  in  a 
sitting  posture.  The  square  graves  appeared  to  be  the 
common  receptacles  for  the  collected  bones  of  the  dead. 
In  the  centre  of  the  sarcophagus  the  skull  was  often 
located,  and  the  long  bones  of  the  skeleton  were  ar- 
ranged around  it.  In  many  instances  no  order  was 
observed  in  the  collocation  of  the  bones.  Dr.  Jones 
saw  acres  of  stone  graves  in  several  of  the  valleys  of 
Tennessee. 

Near  Brentwood,  twelve  miles  from  Nashville,  he 
opened  a  mound  which  was  composed  entirely  of  stone 
graves,  located  one  above  the  other,  to  the  height  of 
four  tiers  in  the  centre.     Those  lowest  in  order  were 


^rrl  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

uniformly  square  graves.  Just  above  tlieni  were  long 
and  square  graves,  while  the  two  upper  tiers  consisted 
of  graves,  between  six  and  seven  feet  in  length,  and 
about  a  foot  and  a  half  wide.  The  top  stones  of  the 
highest  graves  were  so  arranged  as  to  form  a  continu- 
ous stony  covering  for  the  entire  mound.  This  tumu- 
lus, which  was  but  an  aggregation  of  individual  graves, 
was  seventy-five  feet  in  diameter,  and  between  six  and 
seven  feet  high.  It  was  covered  with  a  layer  of  earth, 
several  inches  thick.  This  unique  mound  was  located 
near  the  centre  of  an  enclosure,  some  ten  acres  in  ex- 
tent, surrounded  by  an  earth-wall,  three  feet  high,  at 
the  date  of  his  visit. 

The  valleys  of  the  Cumberland,  the  Harpeth,  Duck, 
and  Stone  Eivers,  teem  with  the  sepulchres  and  monu- 
ments of  the  stone-grave  makers. 

From  these  graves  Dr.  Jones  obtained  numerous 
stone  and  clay  images,  marine  shells,  stone  imple- 
ments, arrow  and  spear  heads,  a  stone  sword,  agricul- 
tural implements,  various  ornaments  of  stone,  clay, 
and  shell,  pots,  vases  of  curious  devices,  and  copper 
crosses.  This  collection  possesses  rare  value  for  the 
student  of  American  archaeology.  It  is  very  rich  in 
crania. 

Upon  some  of  the  bones  taken  from  these  graves 
the  ravages  of  syphilis  were  unmistakable.  From 
various  indications  which  were  satisfactory  to  his 
own  mind,  Dr.  Jones  was  convinced  that  inhumations 
had  occurred  in  these  rude  vaults  since  the  period  of 
primal  contact  between  the  Europeans  and  the  red 
race. 

It  is  perhaps  not  unlikely  that  the  Chaouanons  con- 
structed many  of  these  Tennessee  graves,  and,  crossing 
the  mountains  which  intervened,  peopled  Nacoochee 


•  STONE   GKAVES.  223 

Valley  and  other  portions  of  Georgia.  The  Shaw- 
nees,  Shawanoes,  Utchees,  and  Sanvanogees  or  Savan- 
nahs, at  some  remote  period  may  have  acknowledged 
allegiance  to  this  race — a  people  from  which  sprang 
some  of  the  noblest  specimens  of  the  red-men  of 
whom  we  have  any  knowledge.  The  Utchees  claimed 
to  be  autochthons,  and  always  contended  that  they 
were  the  original  proprietors  of  the  soil.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  expect  that  future  investigations  will 
confirm  the  conjecture  that  stone  graves  will  be 
found  in  the  valleys  of  the  Chattahoochee,  the  Eto- 
wah, the  Oostenaula,  the  Coosa,  and  perhaps  the  Sa- 
vannah. 

The  custom  of  reserving  the  bodies  until  they  had 
accumulated  sufficiently  to  warrant  something  like  a 
general  inhumation,  and  the  practice  of  turning  over 
the  corpses  to  certain  persons,  who  answered  in  a  rude 
way  to  the  calling  of  undertakers,  that  they,  might 
^  strip  the  flesh  from  the  bones  and  enclose  the  latter  in 
bark  coffins  until  the  set  time  of  burial  occurred, 
obtained,  as  we  have  already  intimated,  among  more 
than  one  of  the  North  American  tribes.1 

An  examination  of  the  stone  graves  of  Nacooehee 
Valley  inclines  us  to  the  belief  that  to  the  prevalence 
of  some  such  custom  as  this  are  the  two  graves  in- 
debted for  the  remains  of  several  dead  enclosed  within 
them.  The  lack  of  order  in  the  disposition  of  the 
bones,  and  the  careless  commingling  of  various  por- 
tions of  several  skeletons,  are  evident,  while  in  the 
central  grave  the  corpse  was  carefully  laid  at  full 
length  upon  the  stone  flooring.  As  we  proceed  we 
will  perceive  additional  reasons  for  conjecturing  that 

1  " Travels   of  William  Bartram,"  p.   514.     London,  1792.     "Travels  of  J. 
Carver,"  p.  402.     London,  1778. 


22-4  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEEN    INpiANS. 

this  grave  formed  the  receptacle  of  some  chief  or 
warrior  of  note.  He  was  an  old  man  of  great  stat- 
ure. The  few  teeth  remaining  in  the  lower  jaw 
were  much  worn,  and  the  alveolar  processes  had 
been  greatly  absorbed.  Unfortunately,  the  skull  was 
in  such  a  decayed  condition  that  it  could  not  be 
preserved. 

It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  note  that  stone  graves,  not 
unlike  those  which  we  have  been  considering,  have 
been  found  in  England,  Scotland,  Germany,  France, 
and  in  other  portions  of  the  world.  They  are  the 
simplest  forms  of  tombs ;  and,  because  of  their  dura- 
bility and  the  facility  with  which  they  could  be  con- 
structed, very  naturally  commended  themselves  to  the 
use  of  such  as  were  jealous  of  the  bones  of  their  dead. 
In  a  word,  they  may  be  described  as  sepulchral  cham- 
bers or  stone  chests — either  rectangular  or  approach- 
ing polygonal  forms,  in  consequence  of  the  rough  and 
misshapen  character  of  the  materials  employed — roofed 
with  blocks  of  Nature's  own  hewing. 

As  we  have  remarked,  each  of  these  graves  con- 
tained human  remains.  In  the  central  grave  was  the 
skeleton  of  an  old  man  more  than  six  feet  high.  This 
corpse  had  been  carefully  deposited  upon  the  floor 
of  the  vault,  at  full  length,  the  arms  lying  paralled  with 
the  body.  In  the  other  two  graves  the  bones  had 
been  disposed  without  any  regard  to  regularity.  Por- 
tions of  several  skeletons  were  found  in  each,  and  it 
was  evident  that  they  had  been  inhumed  in  utter  dis- 
regard of  every  thing  savoring  of  order.  None  of 
these  graves  had  been  disturbed  previous  to  this  ex- 
amination. Although  located  in  a  cleared  field,  which 
had  been  cultivated  for  a  number  of'years,  the  plough- 
share had  never  before  touched  the  stone  covering 
which  sheltered  them. 


fUle  VI. 


AH  PHOTO  LITHOGRAPHIC  COM  YtOSBORHlS  PROCESS) 


COPPER   IMPLEMENT. CANE -MATTING.  225 

The  most  remarkable  object  found  in  the  central  or 
chieftain  grave,  was  a  copper  implement.  It  lay  near 
the  shoulder  of  the  skeleton,  and  beneath  it  was  a  piece 
of  carie-matting,  probably  the  remnant  of  the  sheath 
or  basket  which  enclosed  it  when  first  deposited 
in  the  grave  of  its  owner.  The  only  portion  of  the 
matting  or  basket-work  in  condition  to  be  removed 
and  preserved  was  that  part  which  was  immediately 
underneath  and  in  contact  with  the  implement.  It 
was  discolored  by  the  oxide  of  copper,  which  exerted 
a  conservative  influence.  This  sheath  or  matting 1 
consisted  of  thin  layers  of  split  cane,  about  the  quar- 
ter of  an  inch  in  width,  interwoven  at  right  angles 
with  each  other.  The  cane  had  been  prepared  for 
the  purpose,  by  being  split  into  strips  of  uniform 
width.  From  these  the  softer,  inner  portions  had 
been  removed,  so  that  only  the  thin,  hard,  outer  sur- 
face remained.  Those  at  all  familiar  with  this  reed 
will  readily  remember  how  very  firm  and  almost 
indestructible  by  ordinary  exposure  its  tough  integu- 
ment is.  The  use  of  this  material  by  the  Cherokees  in 
the  manufacture  of  baskets  and  other  articles  of  orna- 
ment and  domestic  value,  was  continued  until  a  late 
period.  Adair  says:  "They  make  the  handsomest 
clothes-baskets  I  ever  saw,  considering  their  materials. 
They  divide  large  swamp-canes  into  long,  thin,  narrow 
splinters,  which  they  dye  of  several  colours,  and  manage 
the  workmanship  so  well,  that  both  the  inside  and  out- 
side are  covered  with  a  beautiful  variety  of  pleasing 
figures."  8  Traces  still  exist,  indicating  that  the  strij^ 
of  cane  composing  the  piece  of  matting  we  are  now 

1  See  Fig.  1,  Plate  VI. 

2  "  History  of  the  American  Indians,"  p.  424.     London,  1115. 


226  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEEN   INDIANS. 

considering  were  originally  dyed,  some  of  them  black, 
and  others  yellow.  The  moisture  of  the  earth,  the  de- 
posit of  the  oxide  of  copper,  and  the  gnawing  tooth 
of  Time  have  sadly  interfered  with  the  primal  coloring. 
This  is  probably  nothing  more  than  the  fragment  of 
a  cane-basket — then  in  general  use  among  the  Indians 
— which  was  deposited  in  the  grave  at  the  time  of  the 
inhumation.  Possibly  the  copper  axe  and  other  arti- 
cles of  the  deceased  were  then  placed  in  it. 

The  copper  implement,1  which  is  an  object  of  un- 
usual interest,  is  nearly  ten  inches  in  length,  two 
inches  and  three  quarters  wide  at  the  cutting  edge, 
and  two  inches  wide  at  the  upper  or  helve  end.  The 
cutting  edge  is  arching,  while  the  other  end,  except 
at  the  corners,  is  square.  It  possesses  an  almost 
uniform  thickness  'of  a  little  less  than  the  tenth  of  an 
inch,  and  weighs  nine  and  three-quarter  ounces  avoir- 
dupois. 

An  inch  and  a  quarter  from  the  upper  end,  and  ex- 
tending diagonally  across  the  implement,  is  a  smooth, 
worn  .space  on  each  side,  about  an  inch  and  a  quarter 
in  width,  showing  where  and  how  this  axe  was  in- 
serted in  its  handle.  We  can  determine  the  precise 
angle  of  inclination  which  the  axe  sustained  to  the  han- 
dle. The  abrasion  caused  by  the  handle  is  very  dis- 
tinct. This  implement  is  made  of  pure  copper,  and  the 
lamination  is  clearly  discernible.  That  it  had  been 
used,  is  evidenced  both  by  the  abrasion  caused  by  the 
handle,  and  also  by  the  fact  that  the  cutting  edge  is  some- 
what split  and  broken — the  implement  being  other- 
wise perfect.  So  thin,  however,  is  this  axe,  it  seems 
scarcely  probable  that  it  could  have  been  applied  to 

1  See  Fig.  2,  Plate  VI. 


COPPEE    IMPLEMENT   FROM    STONE    GRATE.  227 

any  general  practical  uses.  The  material  of  winch  it 
is  made  being  pure,  native  copper,  if  subjected  to 
violent  contact  with  any  hard  substance,  would  ne- 
cessarily bend  and  prove  comparatively  valueless. 
We  think  it  was  carried  as  a  badge  of  distinction 
and  treasured  as  a  valuable  ornament  or  possession, 
and  not  employed  as  a  weapon  of  war  or  used  for 
incisive  purposes.  Manufactured  of  native  copper, 
it  was  beaten  into  its  present  form  without  the  in- 
tervention of  heat.  In  its  construction  the  workman 
regarded  his  material  as  a  sort  of  malleable  stone, 
dealing  with  it  as  such,  and  not  as  a  metal  capable, 
under  the  influences  of  heat,  of  being  readily  hammered 
into  the  desired  shape.  The  surface  of  this  axe  is  con- 
siderably oxidated,  except  where  it  was  surrounded  by 
the  handle,  which  would  indicate  not  only  that  it  was 
attached  to  the  handle  at  the  time  of  its  inhumation, 
but  also  that  the  handle  must  have  consisted  of  some 
hard  substance,  which  lasted  for  a  long  period  subse- 
quent to  the  inhumation  and  thus  protected  the  in- 
serted portion  of  the  implement  from  those  influences 
which  operated  to  oxidate  the  exposed  surface.  The 
handle  had  worn  that  portion  of  the  axe  which  it  en- 
closed quite  smooth ;  and  this  fact,  while  evincing  no 
inconsiderable  use,  tended  to  render  such  part  least 
liable  to  decomposition  or  oxidation.  No  trace  of  the 
handle  remained  in  the  grave.  Clavigero  says  the 
Mexicans  had  copper  axes,  with  which  they  cut  trees, 
and  that  they  were  inserted  in  an  eye  of  the  handle. 
In  a  similar  way  was  this  axe  attached ;  lashings  of 
deer-sinews,  bark,  or  buck-skin  being  used  to  keep  it 
securely  fastened.1 

1  See  "  Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  p.  198,  Fig.  83. 


228  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEKN   INDIANS. 

It  will  be  remarked  that  the  peculiar  features  of 
this  Nacoochee  axe  are  its  length,  it  unusual  thinness, 
and  the  existence  of  a  clearly-defined  space  on  each 
side,  showing  not  only  that  it  was  inserted  in  the  eye 
or  split  of  a  handle,  but  also  the  precise  point  and 
angle  at  which  it  was  so  enclosed  and  held  in  position. 
Compared  with  the  Chillicothe  axe,1  the  Long-Island 
axe,  and  others  which  might  be  mentioned,  it  will 
readily  be  perceived  how  materially  the  present  axe 
differs  from  them  all  both  in  shape  and  weight.  So 
far  as  our  knowledge  extends,  this  specimen  is  unique 
in  more  than  one  particular.2 

Copper  implements  are  rarely  found  in  Georgia. 
The  present  is  the  finest  specimen,  which,  after  no 
mean  search,  has  rewarded  our  investigations.  Native 
copper  exists  in  portions  of  Cherokee  Georgia,  Tennes- 
see, North  Carolina,  and  Alabama,  but  it  is  generally 
found  in  combination  with  sulphur,  and  riot  in  a  mal- 
leable form.  We  are  not  aware  of  any  locality,  among 
those  enumerated,  whence  the  Indians  could  have 
secured  that  metal  in  either  quantity  or  purity  suffi- 
cient to  have  enabled  them  to  have  manufactured  this 
implement. 

If  we  may  credit  the  accounts  of  the  early  voyagers 
and  adventurers,  the  tribes  of  this  region,  at  the  times 
when  the  Europeans  first  visited  them,  were  possessed 
of  but  little  copper. 

Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  companions  observed  copper 
ornaments  in  the  hands  of  some  of  the  Indians  of  the 
coast.  Of  the  many  mounds,  however,  which  the 
writer  has  carefully  opened  and  examined  along  the 

1  Transactions  American  Ethnological  Society,  vol.  ii.,  p.  174. 

2  Similar  implements  are  said  to  have  been  taken  from  a  grave-mound  in  Missis- 
sippi, but  they  have  not  passed  under  the  writer's  observation. 


USE    OF    COPPER   BY   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS.       229 

coasts  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Florida,  not 
one  contained  a  single  copper  implement  or  ornament 
of  native  manufacture. 

In  tli 3  narrative  of  the  first  attempt  of  the  French, 
under  Captain  John  Kibault,  in  1562,  to  colonize  the 
newly-discovered  country  of  Florida,  mention  is  made 
of  the  fact  that  the  natives  spoke  of  mines  of  cop- 
per in  the  mountains  of  Appalatcy.1  It  has  never, 
we  believe,  been  satisfactorily  ascertained  whether 
this  reference  was  to  particles  of  gold  or  copper ;  and 
the  stream  of  gold  2  said  to  be  issuing  from  the  foot 
of  the  mountains  had  in  all  likelihood  no  surer  phys- 
ical existence  than  the  fountain  of  perpetual  youth, 
conjectured,  longed  for,  eagerly  sought,  but  undiscov- 
ered amid  the  everglades  of  the  "Land  of  Flow- 
ers." The  Fidalgo  of  Elvas  alludes  to  the  circumstance 
that  the  Indians  informed  the  Governor  De  Soto  of 
the  existence,  at  Chisca,  of  a  foundery  of  gold  and  cop- 
per, but  makes  specific  mention  of  no  copper  imple- 
ments in  the  possession  of  the  natives,  except  some 
chopping-knives  at  Cutifachiqui,  which  were  thought 
to  have  a  mixture  of  gold  in  them.3 

Cabeca  de  Vaca  says :  "  Among  the  articles  that 
were  given  to  us,  Andres  Dorantes  received  a  bell  of 
copper,  thick  and  large,  figured  with  a  face,  which 
they  (the  Indians)  had  shown,  greatly  prizing  it. 
They  told  him  that  the}?-  had  gotten  it  from  others, 
their  neighbors ;  and  we  asking  them  whence  they  had 
obtained  it,  they  said  that  it  had  been  brought  from 
the  direction  of  the  north,  where  there  was  much  cop- 
per, and  that  it  was  highly  esteemed.     We  concluded 

1  French's  "  Historical  Collections,  Louisiana  and  Florida,"  p.  170.    New  series. 
s  Ibid.,  p.  288.     New  series. 

3  "Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  De  Soto,"  etc.,  translated  by  Buck- 
ingham Smith.     New  York,  I860. 


230  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

that  whencesoever  it  came,  there  was  a  foundry  and 
that  work  was  done  in  hollow  form." 

At  a  subsequent  period,  upon  showing  this  bell 
to  other  Indians,  their  response  was,  "in  the  place 
whence  that  had  come  there  were  many  plates  of  the 
same  material,  and  that  it  was  a  thing  they  greatly 
esteemed."  ' 

But  one  other  allusion  is  made  to  copper,  in  this 
narrative,  and  it  is  this ;  when  in  the  prairie  country 
of  Texas,  Cabeca  de  Vaca  saw  a  copper  article,  which 
had  been  fashioned  by  the  natives  in  the  form  of  a 
"  hawk-bill." 

In  the  Portuguese  narrative  the  Indians  are  said  to 
have  obtained  pearls  from  the  beds  of  the  interior  riv- 
ers, which  they  pierced  with  heated  copper  spindles 
and  strung  around  their  necks,  arms,  and  ankles. 

At  each  of  the  three  gates  of  the  TemjxLe  of  Talo- 
meco,  three  miles  distant  from  the  town  of  Cutifachi- 
qui,  were  stationed  gigantic  wooden  statues,  variously 
armed  with  clubs,  maces,  canoe-paddles,  copper  hatch- 
ets, drawn  bows,  and  long  pikes.  These  implements 
were  ornamented  with  rings  of  pearls  and  bands  of 
copper. a 

On  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi  Eiver,  Hennepin 
was  courteously  received  by  an  Indian  chief,  clothed 
in  a  "  kind  of  white  gown,"  which  women  had  spun 
of  the  bark  of  trees.  Before  him  two  male  attend- 
ants carried  a  "  thin  plate  of  copper  as  shining  as 
gold."  3 

Hariot,   Captain   John    Smith,  and  others,  allude 

1  "  Narrative  of  Alvar  Nunez  Cabeca  de  Vaca,"  translated  by  Buckingham 
Smith,  p.  92.     Washington,  1851. 

2  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  pp.  274,  282. 

3  Hennepin's  "  New  Discovery,"  etc.,  p.  156.     London,  1698. 


COPPER    REGARDED    AS    A    MALLEABLE    STONE.       231 

to  the  presence  of  "  diuerse  small  plates  of  copper,"  in 
the  possession  of  the  Virginia  Indians ;  and  De  Bry 
has  figured  ornaments  of  the  same  metal  worn  by  the 
natives  of  Florida. 

Without  multiplying  these  references,  it  may,  we 
think,  be  confidently  asserted  that  while  the  early 
writers  note  the  presence  of  copper  implements  and 
ornaments  among  the  Indians  of  this  region,  their  nar- 
ratives prove  that  such  were  comparatively  rare  and 
highly  prized  by  the  natives.  It  is  not  shown  that 
they  were  manufactured  here,  and  we  very  much 
doubt  whether  there  was  in  the  Southern  States  (or 
within  the  geographical  limits  at  present  embraced  by 
them)  a  natural  vein  or  deposit  of  copper,  accessible 
to  the  Indians,  of  sufficient  size  and  purity  to  have 
afforded  them  the  material  necessary  for  the  fashion- 
ing of  such  an  implement  as  that  now  before  us.  Our 
impression  is,  that  the  metal  of  which  the  Nacoochee 
axe  is  formed  was  obtained  from  the  shores  of  Lake 
Superior,  and  that  probably  the  implement  itself  was 
there  made. 

The  art  of  melting  copper  was  neither  understood 
nor  practised  by  the  natives.  Of  the  method  of  work- 
ing it  while  in  a  heated  state,  the  primitive  artist  ap- 
peared to  be  entirely  ignorant.  Regarding  this  metal 
simply  as  a  sort  of  malleable  stone,  he  contented  him- 
self with  obtaining  pieces  of  suitable  size  from  the 
ground  or  from  natural  blocks  or  veins,  and  hammer- 
ing them  into  the  desired  shapes. 

The  Lake-Superior  region  furnished  the  Indians 
with  most  if  not  all  the  copper  they  used.  The  in- 
teresting researches  of  Mr.  Whittlesey '  and  others 
have  shown  how  extensive  were  those  ancient  mining 

1  "Ancient  Mining  on  the  Shores  of  Luke  Superior." — Smithsonian  Contribu- 
tions to  Knowledge.     April,  1863. 


232  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS, 

operations  along  the  shores  of  that  lake.  The  meth- 
ods and  implements  employed  for  detaching  pieces  of 
this  metal  from  their  natural  masses,  and  hammering 
them  into  various  shapes,  have  also  been  carefully 
noted  and  described.  Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis,1  Pro- 
fessor Wilson,2  and  others,  concur  in  the  opinion  that 
the  copper  used  by  the  Indians  in  the  preparation  of 
these  cold-wrought  implements  and  ornaments  was 
obtained  chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  from  the  ancient  mines 
of  Lake  Superior. 

This  copper  axe  from  the  shores  of  Lake  Superior 
in  the  stone  grave  of  an  Indian  in  the  beautiful  valley 
of  Nacoochee  is  surely  an  interesting  proof  of  the  com- 
merce which  existed  among  the  tribes  of  North  Amer- 
ica. In  this  connection  we  would  refer  to  another 
ornamental  copper  axe  and  to  some  copper  rods  or 
spindles  found  in  an  ancient  grave  in  the  Etowah  Val- 
ley. It  will  be  remarked  how  closely  this  implement 
(Plate  VI.,  Fig.  3)  resembles  the  Oxaca  axe  figured  by 
Du  Paix.  Like  the  thin  axe  from  the  stone  grave  in 
Nacoochee  Valley  it  is  of  native  copper,  laminated  in 
its  structure,  and  was  hammered  into  its  present  shape 
without  the  intervention  of  fire.  This  axe,  also,  is 
thin,  and  could  not  well  have  been  used  for  incisive 
purposes. 

The  design  of  the  small  copper  rods,  of  which  Fig- 
ures 4,  5,  6,  and  7,  Plate  VI,  are  illustrations,  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  conjecture.  It  has  occurred  to  us  that  they 
may  be  the  spindles  alluded  to  by  the  historians  of 
De  Soto's  expedition,  with  which,  when  heated,  the 
natives  were  wont  to  perforate  pearls  so  that  they 
could  be  strung  and  worn  as  beads. 

1  "  Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  p.  203. 
3  "  Prehistoric  Man,"  p.  174. 


COPPER    ORNAMENTS.  — CASSIS    FLAMMEA.  233 

Copper  pendants  for  the  ear  have  been  found  in 
several  of  the  valleys  of  Upper  Georgia.  They  were 
small,  thin,  pear-shaped  ornaments,  perforated  in  the 
upper  end  to  facilitate  the  suspension.  The  surfaces 
of  these  pendants  were  frequently  ornamented  with  in- 
cised lines,  apparently  traced  with  a  flint  flake. 

Two  fine  specimens  of  the  Cassis  fiammea  were 
taken  from  these  graves — one  of  them  from  the  central 
sarcophagus.  They  were  nearly  ten  inches  in  length 
and  about  seven  inches  in  diameter.  From  them,  both 
the  interior  whorls  and  columellas  had  been  removed, 
so  that  they  answered  the  purpose  of  drinking-cups  or 
receptacles  of  some  sort.  Dr.  Troost  saw  in  Tennes- 
see one  of  these  shells  with  an  idol  inside  of  it — an 
opening  having  been  made  for  its  reception.  This  im- 
age was  in  a  kneeling  posture,  with  its  hands  clasped 
in  front.1  Dr  Drake  found  in  some  ancient  tumuli 
near  Cincinnati,  large  marine  shells  of  the  sort  we 
are  now  considering.  They  had  been  cut  longitudi- 
nally so  as  to  form  very  convenient  drinking-cups.8 
Professor  Jones  informs  me  that  conchs  of  this  de- 
scription were  seen  by  him  not  infrequently  in  the 
stone  graves  of  the  Cumberland  Valley.  The  pres- 
ence of  marine  shells  in  graves  of  a  similar  character, 
in  other  localities,  has  been  noted  by  more  than  one 
observer.  These  conchs  were  brought  from  the  South- 
em  Atlantic  coast,  or  from  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  Here  we  have  another  illustration  of  the 
commerce  Avhich  must  have  obtained  among  the  tribes 
of  this  country. 

A  soapstone  ornament  and  several  shell  pins  were 
obtained  from  the  central  grave.     Of  the  shell  pins  or 

1  Transactions  American  Ethnological  Society,  vol.  i.,  p.  361. 

2  Long's  "  Expedition  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,"  etc.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  57,  58.    Lon- 
don, 1823. 


234  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

ornaments  there  are  two  varieties,  both  of  which  are 
correctly  represented  in  the  accompanying  plate.  The 
first  (Fig.  8,  Plate  VI.)  is  like  a  large-headed  wrought- 
nail.  The  other  (Fig.  9,  Plate  VI.)  is  pointed  at  both 
ends.  The  surface  of  each  is  much  decomposed,  color, 
dead  white,  and  the  feel,  limy.  The  third  relic  (Fig. 
10,  Plate  VI.)  is  made  of  soapstone,  and  has  received 
as  careful  a  polish  as  that  material  will  permit. 

The  precise  uses  to  which  these  implements  or 
ornaments  may  have  been  put  can  only  be  conjectured. 
That  the  form  is  not  accidental  is  established  by  the 
coinciding  shape  of  the  soapstone  specimen,  and  by 
the  fact  that  several  specimens  of  both  varieties  of  the 
shell  pins  were  found  in  the  central  grave.  Similar  rel- 
ics have  recently  been  taken  from  Brake-bill  mound 
in  Tennessee,  and  from  a  mound  on  the  Chattahoochee 
River  below  Columbus.  We  will  allude  again  to 
these  articles  in  our  chapter  upon  shell  ornaments. 

The  soapstone  ornament  is  a  little  less  than  two 
inches  long.  Its  head  is  rather  more  than  half  an 
inch  in  diameter. 

The  shell  pins  with  heads  are,  on  an  average, 
about  an  inch  and  three-quarters  in  length.  The 
mean  diameter  of  their  heads  is  three-quarters  of  an 
inch.  They  all  terminate  in  a  sharp  point.  Those 
without  heads  are  fully  two  inches  in  length,  swell- 
ins;  in  the  centre  to  three-tenths  of  an  inch  in  di- 
ameter,  and  tapering  to  a  j^oint  at  either  end.  These 
shell  ornaments  were  manufactured  probably  from 
the  thicker  portions  and  columns  of  sea-conchs  or 
marine  shells. 

Cabeca  de  Vaca  declares  that  the  thicker  portions 
of  large  marine  shells,  and  of  sea-conchs,  were  carried 
by  the  natives  who  occupied  the  coast-regions  of  the 


AETICLES    FOUND    IN    STONE    GRAVES.  235 

Gulf  of  Mexico,  into  the  interior,  and  were  there  ex- 
changed for  skins  and  other  articles.  In  some  such 
way,  in  all  likelihood,  was  the  material  obtained  from 
which  these  shell  pins  were  fashioned. 

The  perforated  stone '  in  its  shape  and  size  is  not 
unlike  the  spindle- whorls  found  at  Meilen  and  else- 
where in  Europe."  Whether  it  was  indeed  used  for  a 
similar  purpose,  or  merely  worn  as  an  ornament,  or 
with  what  specific  intent  fashioned,  we  cannot  state 
with  certainty.  We  incline  to  the  belief  that  it  was 
probably  suspended. as  an  ornament. 

An  imperforate  discoidal  stone,  a  grooved  axe, 
badly  worn,  a  beautifully-polished  wedge-shaped  axe 
or  stone  celt,  a  chisel  of  greenstone,  a  fragment  of 
a  soapstone  pipe,  and  a  large  stone  bead  (Fig.  12, 
Plate  VI.)  complete  the  catalogue  of  relics  taken  from 
these  graves. 

In  the  vicinity  were  ploughed  up  Venetian  beads, 
fifty-five  in  number,  varying  in  shape  and  color,  some 
of  them  being  red,  others  blue,  others  white  (of  which 
variety  some  have  a  blue  wreath,  inlaid,  encircling 
them),  others  green,  with  crimson  and  yellow  hori- 
zontal stripes  upon  them,  and  others  black.  The  ma- 
terial of  which  they  are  all  made  is  either  glass  or  por- 
celain. 

In  the  ancient  town  of  Cutifachiqui,  De  Soto  3 
found  a  dirk  and  beads  which  belonged  to  Euro- 
peans.  who,  the  Indians  said,  had  many  years  before 
sailed  into  the  port  distant  two  days'  journey  from 
this  point. 

Biedma 4  narrates  that  De  Soto,  while  at  this   In- 

lFig.  11,  Plate  VI. 

3  See  Keller's  "Lake  Dwellings  of  Switzerland,"  Plate  III.,  Fig.  13. 

3  "Relation  of  the  Knight  of  Elvas,"  p.  64  (Buckingham  Smith's  translation). 

4  "  Relation,"  etc.,  p.  240  (Buckingham  Smith's  translation). 


236  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE   SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

dian  village,  caused  a  mosque  to  be  opened  in  which 
were  interred  the  chief  personages  of  the  country.  In 
it  were  found  pearls,  two  wooden  axes  of  Castilian 
make,  a  rosary  of  jet  heads,  and  some  false  pearls,  such 
as  were  brought  from  Spain  for  the  purpose  of  traffic 
with  the  natives.  It  was  conjectured  that  these  Euro- 
pean articles  had  been  obtained  by  the  Indians  from 
the  followers  of  the  Licentiate  Ayllon. 

Rosaries l  of  glass  beads,  with  crosses  and  hatchets 
of  Vizcayan  make,  were  discovered  in  unrolling  the 
bodies  of  some  dead  Indians  entombed  (if  we  correctly 
interpret  the  geography  of  the  expedition)  on  the 
bank  of  the  Savannah  River.  This  occurred  in  1540, 
while  the  army  of  De  Soto  was  enjoying  the  hospitali- 
ties of  the  queen  who  ruled  over  the  tribes  of  this 
region. 

When  speaking  of  the  beads  manufactured  by  the 
natives,  the  early  historians  enumerate  such  as  were 
made  of  pearls,  shells,  sea-snails,  stone,  clay,  and 
bone.  From  Indian  mounds  on  the  Georgia  coast  the 
writer  has  taken  glass  and  porcelain  beads,  which 
proves  that  the  custom  of  mound-building,  or  at  least 
of  interring  the  dead  in  mounds  already  constructed, 
existed  at  a  period  subsequent  to  the  early  intercourse 
between  the  Indians  and  the  Europeans.  In  an  oval 
mound  about  six  miles,  by  water,  above  Lake  Monroe, 
in  Florida,  Dr.  Brinton  saw  numerous  small  blue  and 
large  white  glass  beads,  which  he  regarded  as  inhumed 
at  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  tumulus.2 

We  know  that  the  Spaniards  brought  quantities  of 
European  beads  with  them,  with  which  to  conciliate 
the  natives,  and  that  the  missionaries  who  accompanied 

1  Fontaneda,  p.  45  (Buckingham  Smith's  translation). 
a  "  Notes  on  the  Floridian  Peninsula,"  p.  170. 


BEADS    OF   EUROPEAN   MANUFACTURE.  237 

their  expeditions  were  not  wanting  in  an  abundant 
supply  of  rosaries.  Nothing  was  more  common,  or, 
according  to  the  report  of  the  times,  more  conducive 
to  the  spread  of  Christianity  in  these  benighted  wilds, 
than  the  general  dissemination  of  rosaries  and  wooden 
crosses.  The  acceptance  at  the  hands  of  the  priests, 
by  the  Indian,  of  such  a  gift,  was  too  often  chronicled 
as  an  instance  of  conversion. 

Beads  were  also  distributed  by  the  early  navigators 
at  various  points  along  the  coast.  The  discoverers  of 
the  Mississippi  dispersed  them  freely  among  the  tribes 
then  peopling  the  banks  of  the  "  Father  of  Waters," 
and  the  wanderings  of  the  pioneers  of  the  west  are 
still  verified  by  the  presence  of  these  coarse  orna- 
ments. After  having  grossly  violated  the  hospitali- 
ties of  the  Queen  of  the  Savannah,  De  Soto  moved 
with  his  command  along  the  line  of  the  Savannah 
River  to  its  head- waters.  Thence  turning  to  the  south- 
west, before  reaching  the  confluence  of  the  Etowah  and 
the  Oostenaula  Rivers,  in  his  journeyings  through 
Cherokee  Georgia,  it  is  probable  that  he  passed  either 
directly  through  or  very  near  Nacoochee  Valley.1 

Certain  it  is  that,  during  the  sixteenth  century, 
ample  opportunity  would  have  been  afforded  to  a 
prominent  chief  of  this  valley  to  have  possessed  him- 
self of  such  beads  as  those  which  we  are  now  ex- 
amining. 

No  trace  of  iron,  bronze,  or  steel,  existed  in  these 
graves.  The  presence  of  the  copper  axe  and  stone  im- 
plements furnishes  good  ground  for  believing  that 
their  owner  had  enjoyed  no  opportunity  for  exchang- 

1  JIap  compiled  by  J.  C.  Brevoort,  in  Buckingham  Smith's  translation  of  the 
"Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto."  No.  5,  Bradford  Club  Series, 
New  York,  1866. 


238  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEKN   INDIANS. 

ing  his  rude  weapons  and  ornaments  for  the  more  ser- 
viceable tools  which,  at  an  early  period,  were  freely  of- 
fered by  the  colonists.  This  fact,  and  the  total  absence 
of  the  old  Venetian  beads  found  in  the  neighborhood, 
and  undoubtedly  once  the  property  of  the  Indians, 
enable  us,  with  considerable  confidence,  to  assign  to 
these  graves  an  antiquity  of  not  less  than  three  hun- 
dred and  thirty  years.  Probably  they  are  much  older. 
This  peculiar  mode  of  sepulture,  we  have  already  seen, 
was  adopted  by  the  Indians,  in  some  instances,  within 
historic  times. 

The  existence  of  extensive  trade  relations  among 
the  aborigines  is  beautifully  verified  by  the  contents 
of  these  graves.  Here,  concentrated  in  the  ownership 
of  a  single  individual,  we  see  a  basket  or  mat  made  of 
a  reed  not  native  to  the  valley — stone  implements,  la- 
boriously manufactured  of  materials  brought  from  a 
distance — a  cassis  and  shell  ornaments  from  the  Atlan- 
tic Ocean,  or  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  a  copper  axe 
from  the  shores  of  Lake  Superior. 

Upon  the  rock-walls  which  fence  in  this  beautiful 
valley,  are  engraven  no  memories  of  the  tribes  who  in 
the  olden  time  committed  to  the  protection  of  these 
rude  sepulchres  the  bodies  of  their  dead. 

A  people  without  letters,  they  have  passed  away, 
leaving  not  even  an  inscription  u])on  their  tombs. 

Nevertheless,  from  out  the  void  of  forgotten  centu- 
ries, from  the  womb  of  these  nameless  sarcophagi, 
come  these  implements  and  ornaments  to  tell  us  at 
least  somewhat  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  those 
who  are  gone — to  remind  us  of  the  careful  considera- 
tion they  bestowed  upon  the  last  resting-places  of  their 
departed — of  their  belief  in  a  future  state — of  the  prog- 
ress they  had  made  in  the  rudiments  of  art — of  the 


COMMERCE   AMONG   THE   ABORIGINES.  239 

position  they  occupied  in  the  scale  of  semi-civilization 
— and  to  assure  us  that  among  the  red  nomads  of  these 
primitive  wilds  the  advantages  of  an  interchange  of 
values  with  distant  nations  were  neither  wholly  un- 
known nor  entirely  neglected. 

Thus  these  relics  become  in  very  deed  the 

"  Registers,  the  chronicles  of  the  age 
They  were  made  in,  and  speak  the  truth  of  history 
Better  than  a  hundred  of  your  printed 

Communications."  > 

1  Shakerly's  "  Marrnyon's  Antiquary." 


CHAPTER  XL 

Arrow  and  Spear  Heads.— Use  of  the  Bow.— Skill  in  Archery.— Manufacture  and 
General  Distribution  of  Arrow  and  Spear  Points.— Various  Forms  of  these  Im- 
plements.— Stone  Dagger. — Flint  Sword. 

Of  all  the  various  stone  implements  evidencing  the 
handiwork  of  primitive  man,  by  far  the  most  numerous, 
and  perhaps  not  the  least  interesting,  are  the  arrow  and 
spear  heads.  So  general  is  the  distribution  of  these  in- 
j  strum ents  of  war  and  of  venery,  not  only  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  vast  continents,  but  also  in 
the  habitable  islands  of  the  ocean,  it  would  really  ap- 
pear as  though  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  at  some 
time  or  other,  man  existed  in  such  a  state  of  rude  de- 
velopment that  his  principal  hope  of  food  and  defence 
resided  in  the  constant  use  of  these  rough  weapons. 
So  closely  do  these  implements  resemble  each  other, 
both  in  material  and  form  of  construction,  whether 
found  in  Danish  shell-mounds  or  British  barrows,  ex- 
humed from  the  peat-bogs  of  Ireland,  or  wrested  from 
the  diluvial  matrix  of  France,  brought  to  light  from 
out  the  darkness  of  long-forgotten  caves,  or  fished  up 
from  the  pile-dwellings  of  Robenhausen,  gathered  amid 
the  forests  of  Africa,  or  upon  the  steppes  of  Asia,  res- 
cued from  the  debris  of  a  New-Zealand  encampment, 
or  delivered  from  the  womb  of  an  American  tumulus, 


DISTRIBUTION    OF   ARROW   AND    SPEAR    HEADS.      241 

that  even  the  practised  eye  is  often  at  a  loss  to  dis- 
cover physical  peculiarities  which  can  sufficiently  dis- 
tinguish them  the  one  from  the  other.  Chronologically 
considered,  the  stone  periods  which  they  represent  may 
be  separated  by  hundreds  and  perhaps  thousands  of 
years.  Nearly  synonymous  as  these  relics  appear,  it 
by  no  means  follows  that  they  are  necessarily  synchro- 
nous. The  tendency  of  present  investigations  is  to 
the  conclusion  that  in  America  the  stone  age  reached 
its  richest  and  fullest  development,  and  that  the  arrow- 
makers  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  were  surpassed  by 
Xnone  in  the  selection  of  their  materials  and  in  the  skill 
displayed  in  fashioning  them  into  forms  of  use  and 
symmetry. 

Within  the  geographical  limits  of  Georgia  spear 
and  arrow  points  of  unusual  beauty  and  excellence  are 
found  in  sepulchral  tumuli,  in  shell-heaps,  in  relic-beds, 
and  in  greater  or  fewer  numbers  upon  the  surface  of 
the  ground.  New  specimens  are,  each  year,  unearthed 
by  the  ploughshare  and  washed  from  their  hiding- 
places  by  the  summer  showers.  Most  frequently  are 
they  seen  in  the  rich  valleys,  along  the  banks  of  rivers, 
and  upon  the  islands  and  headlands  of  the  coast.  Their 
presence  in  quantities  indicates  the  chosen  seats  of  the 
aborigines.  Even  in  pine-barren  regions,  where  the  soil 
is  poor,  vegetation  thin,  and  streams  and  swamps  are 
infrequent — localities  at  best  but  sparsely  populated 
by  the  Indians — we  are  assured  of  the  fact  that  over 
these  uninviting  districts  the  natives  wandered  in  pur- 
suit of  game,  and  here  and  there  lost  an  arrow-point  car- 
ried away  by  a  wounded  animal  or  bird,  broken  from  its 
shaft  by  contact  with  some  tree,  or  accidentally  dropped 
from  the  hunter's  quiver.  Occasional  specimens  are 
turned  up  in  ditching  the  rice-fields,  showing  that  even 


242  ANTIQUITIES    OB1   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

amid  the  deep,  dank  recesses  of  the  primeval  cypress- 
forests  the  Indians  pursued  the  deer,  the  bear,  the  wild- 
turkey  and  other  game.  It  is  in  the  rich  valleys  of 
Middle  and  Upper  Georgia,  and  along  the  coast,  that 
these  relics  occur  most  frequently.  Keady  supply  of 
oysters,  clams,  fresh-water  mussels,  fish,  and  game, 
mainly  determined  the  natives  in  the  selection  of  their 
permanent  habitations.  Add  to  this  the  presence  of  a 
good  natural  spring,  and  you  will  readily  find  abun- 
dant proof  of  former  occupancy  by  the  red  race.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  but  that  the  manufacture  of  these  flint 
implements  was  carried  on  at  various  points  on  the 
headlands  and  islands  of  the  coast.  In  the  refuse- 
piles,  numerous  spear  and  arrow  points  may  be  gath- 
ered, some  completely  and  others  only  partially  formed. 
Chips,  flakes,  and  cores  mark  the  spots  where  the 
primitive  arrow-maker  plied  his  trade,  and  this  at  a 
considerable  remove  from  localities  whence  the  mate- 
rials for  the  construction  of  these  implements  could 
have  been  obtained. 

The  writer  has  observed  upon  the  margin  of  more 
than  one  swamp  in  Southern  Georgia  the  clearly-de- 
fined traces  of  open-air  workshops  for  the  manufacture 
of  flint  implements.  Let  one  instance  suffice :  On 
Arcadia  plantation,  in  Liberty  County,  near  the  edge  of 
Midway  swamp,  is  a  little  knoll  whose  top  is  littered 
with  flakes,  chips, 'and  arrow  and  spear  points  in  vari- 
ous stages  of  completion.  Some  had  evidently  been 
discarded  during  the  process  of  manufacture,  upon  the 
discovery  of  an  unexpected  defect  in  the  material; 
while  others,  failing  to  yield  the  desired  fracture,  had 
been  thrown  aside  as  involving  too  great  an  expendi- 
ture of  labor.  Fine  nuclei  of  flint  and  quartz  lay 
half  embedded  in  the  soil.     These  had  been  brought 


MANUFACTURERS    OF    ARROW    AND    SPEAR   HEADS.    243 

from  a  distance.  They  could  not  have  been  obtained 
within  a  hundred  miles  of  this  locality,  and,  in  all 
likelihood  were  procured  at  a  remove  much  greater 
than  that  which  we  have  named.  The  spear  and  ar- 
row heads  of  the  coast  are  remarkable  for  the  beauty 
of  the  material  from  which  they  were  made,  and  for 
the  skill  displayed  in  their  construction. 

Particular  attention  was  paid  to  the  selection  of 
the  more  attractive  and  bright-colored  varieties  of 
flint,  jasper,  and  quartz.  Many  of  these  arrow  and 
spear  heads  are  beautiful,  and  may  be  justly  regard- 
ed as  marvels  of  skill  in  flint-chipping.  Some  are 
serrated,  and  almost  every  known  form  finds  here 
its  type.  We  have  seen  that  at  least  some  of  these 
implements  were  here  manufactured  from  nuclei, 
brought  from  a  distance.  It  is  probable,  however,  that 
most  of  them  were  obtained  in  a  manufactured  state 
from  other  localities.  It  is  said  that,  among  the  In- 
dians of  Cherokee  Georgia,  in  ancient  times,  were  men 
who  devoted  their  attention  to  the  manufacture  of 
spear  and  arrow  heads,  and  other  stone  implements. 
As  from  time  to  time  they  accumulated  a  supply,  they 
would  leave  their  mountain-homes  and  visit  the  sea- 
board and  intermediate  regions  for  the  purpose  of  ex- 
changing these  implements  for  shells  and  various 
articles  not  readily  obtainable  in  the  localities  where 
they  resided.  These  were  usually  old  men,  or  persons 
who  mingled  not  in  the  excitements  of  war  and  the 
chase.  To  them,  while  engaged  in  these  commercial 
pursuits,  free  passage  was  at  all  times  granted.  Their 
avocation  was  deemed  honorable,  and  they  themselves 
were  welcomed  wherever  they  appeared.  If  such  was 
the  case,  we  have  here  an  interesting  proof  both  of 
the  trade  relations  existing  among  the  aboriginal  tribes 


244  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

and  of  the  marked  recognition,  by  an  uncivilized  race, 
of  the  claims  of  the  manufacturer.1  In  the  symmetry 
and  beauty  of  these  coast  implements,  we  perceive  the 
good  sense  and  precaution  exhibited  by  the  primitive 
merchantman  in  selecting  such  arrow  and  spear  poiuts 
as  would  most  surely  commend  themselves  to  the  taste 
of  his  customers,  and  secure  for  him  the  most  liberal 
returns  of  the  articles  highly  esteemed  among  his  own 
people. 

In  the  relic-beds  and  shell-heaps  along  the  banks 
of  fresh-water  streams — marking  the  localities  where 
the  Indians  resorted  for  fishing — many  rudely  formed 
slate  and  graywacke  arrow  and  spear  points  are  found. 
There,  the  material  being  abundant  and  easily  worked, 
no  special  care  seems  to  have  been  bestowed  upon  the 
manufacture  of  these  implements.  Jasper  and  milky 
quartz  were  also  freely  used.  From  some  of  these 
relic-beds  thousands  of  these  arrow  and  spear  heads 
have  been  obtained,  and  in  every  stage  of  develop- 
ment, from  the  rough  stone  just  beginning  to  be 
worked,  to  the  finished  implement.  In  the  valleys  of 
Upper  Georgia  our  search  has  been  rewarded  by  ex- 
quisite specimens  made  of  pellucid  crystals,  violet  and 
smoky  quartz,  chalcedony,  jasper,  and  flint.  Party-col- 
ored materials  were  evidently  held  in  special  esteem, 
and  so  neatly  are  many  of  them  chipped  that  the 
skilled  lapidary  of  the  present  day  might  find  his 
powers  taxed  to  rival  the  workmanship  here  dis- 
played. 

Absolutely  dependent  as  the  Indians  were  upon 
the  use  of  the  bow  and  arrow  and  the  spear  for  sub- 
sistence and  protection,  nomadic  in  their  habits,  and 

1  "Indian  Remains   in   Southern   Georgia,"  by   Charles   C.  Jones,  Jr.,  p.  19. 
Savannah,  1859. 


SKILL    IN    ARCHERY.  245 

constantly  engaged  in  hunting  or  intertribal  conten- 
tions,1 we  are  not  surprised  at  the  general  distribution, 
all  over  the  face  of  the  country,,  of  these  their  simplest 
and  most  common  implements.  Their  bows — long 
since  unstrung — have  crumbled  into  dust.  Arrow- 
shaft  and  spear-handle  are  seen  no  more,  but  these  nu- 
clei, flint-chips,  and  skilfully-formed  stone  points — 
indestructible  by  time — fortunately  still  remain  for 
our  study  and  information. 

According  to  the  relation  of  Cabeca  de  Vaca,  the 
Indians  were  all  archers,  being  admirable  in  their  pro- 
portions, spare,  and  of  great  activity  and  strength. 
Their  bows  were  as  thick  as  a  man's  arm,  eleven  or 
twelve  palms  in  length,  and  capable  of  projecting 
arrows  for  a  distance  of  two  hundred  paces,  with  such 
precision  as  to  miss  nothing.  Detailing  a  skirmish 
which  occurred  between  the  Spaniards  and  the  natives, 
he  says  the  latter  fought  from  behind  trees,  covering 
themselves  so  that  the  Christians  could  not  get  sight 
of  them.  He  affirms  that  they  "  drove  their  arrows 
with  such  effect  that  they  wounded  many  men  and 
horses."  Even  the  "  good  armor  "  of  the  Spaniards  did 
not  avail  for  their  protection  against  these  missiles. 
Some  of  the  soldiers  swore  "  that  they  had  seen  two  red- 
oaks,  each  the  thickness  of  the  lower  part  of  the  leg, 
pierced  through  from  side  to  side  by  arrows.  .  .  .  This," 
continues  the  historian,  "  is  not  so  much  to  be  won- 
dered at,  considering  the  power  and  skill  with  which  the 
Indians  are  able  to  project  them.     I  myself  saw  an 

1  Wilson,  writing  in  1682,  asserts  that  the  Carolina  tribes  were  so  constantly 
engaged  in  wars  "  one  town  or  village  against  another,"  that  the  Indian  popula- 
tion suffered  "  no  increase  of  People  " — several  nations  having  been  "  in  a  manner 
quite  extirpated  by  Wars  amongst  themselves  since  the  English  settled  at  Asldy 
River."     "  Account  of  the  Province  of  Carolina,"  p.  15.     London,  1682. 


246  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

arrow  that  had  entered  the  butt  of  an  elm  to  the  depth 
of  a  span." 

On  another  occasion  the  same  author  states  that 
upon  an  examination  of  the  corpses  of  the  Spaniards 
who  had  fallen  in  battle,  their  bodies  were  found 
to  have  been  traversed  from  side  to  side  by  arrows ; 
and  although  some  of  the  dead  soldiers  were  clad  in 
good  armor,  it  did  not  afford  adequate  protection  or 
security  against  the  nice  and  powerful  archery  of  the 
Indians.  An  instance  is  given  where  an  arrow,  shot 
by  an  Indian,  pierced  through  the  saddle  and  housings 
and  penetrated  one-third  of  its  length  into  the  body  of 
of  a  Spaniard's  horse.  The  bows  were  made  of  wood 
and  remained  unbent  until  needed  for  battle  or  the 
chase.  The  strings  were  formed  of  deer-sinews,  strips 
of  deer-skins,  or  the  twisted  gut  of  animals.  Hard 
canes  and  wood  were  used  for  arrows.1 

The  Fidalgo  of  Elvas  describes  the  Indians  as  be- 
ing exceedingly  ready  with  their  weapons,  and  "so 
warlike  and  nimble  that  they  have  no  fear  of  foot- 
soldiers  ;  for  if  these  charge  them  they  flee,  and  when 
they  turn  their  backs  they  are  presently  upon  them. 
They  avoid  nothing  more  easily  than  the  flight  of  an 
arrow.  They  never  remain  quiet,  but  are  continually 
running,  traversing  from  place  to  place,  so  that  neither 
cross-bow  nor  arquebuse  can  be  aimed  at  them.  Be- 
fore a  Christian  can  make  a  single  shot  with  either,  an 
Indian  will  discharge  three  or  four  arrows :  and  he  sel- 
dom misses  of  his  object.  When  the  arrow  meets 
with  no  armor,  it  pierces  as  deejay  as  the  shaft  from  a 
cross-bow.  Their  bows  are  very  perfect;  the  arrows 
are  made  of  certain  canes,  like  reeds,  very  heavy  and 

1  See  "  Relation  of  Alvar  Nunez  Cabe§a  de  Vaca,"  translated  from  the  Span- 
ish by  Buckingham  Smith,  pp.  39,  40,  48,  et  seq.     New  York,  1871. 


USE    OF   AEEOWS.  247 

so  stiff  that  one  of  them,  when  sharpened,  will  pass 
through  a  target.  Some  are  pointed  with  the  bone  of 
a  fish,  sharp,  and  like  a  chisel,  others  with  some  stone 
like  a  point  of  diamond ;  of  such  the  greater  number, 
when  they  strike  upon  armor,  break  at  the  place  the 
parts  are  put  together;  those  of  cane  split  and  will 
enter  a  shirt  of  mail,  doing  more  injury  than  when 
armed  (i.  e.,  with  ch^s  of  hard  stone).1 

"  The  Indians,"  continues  the  same  narrator,  "  never 
lack  meat.  With  arrows  they  get  abundance  of  deer, 
turkeys,  conies,  and  other  wild  animals,  being  very 
skillful  in  killing  game." 

While  the  army  of  De  Soto  was  quartered  in  the 
province  of  Cofachiqui,  Anasco  was  dispatched  by  the 
governor  to  secure  the  attendance  of  the  mother  of  the 
princess  of  this  country,  who  was  represented  to  be 
in  the  possession  of  a  large  quantity  of  most  valuable 
pearls.  As  a  guide  he  took  with  him  a  youthful  war- 
rior, brave  and  handsome,  and  a  near  relative  of  the 
princess.  Having  proceeded  nearly  three  leagues, 
Anasco  and  his  comrades  halted  for  their  mid-day 
meal.  While  they  were  rej>osing  beneath  the  shade 
of  some  wide-spreading  trees,  the  Indian  guide,  who 
had  become  very  moody  and  thoughtful,  quietly  took 
off  his  quiver,  and,  placing  it  before  him,  drew  out  the 
arrows  slowly,  one  by  one.  They  were  admirable  for 
the  skill  and  elegance  with  which  they  were  formed. 
Their  shafts  were  reeds.  Some  were  tipped  with 
bucks'-horns,  wrought  with  four  corners,  like  a  dia- 
mond; some  were  pointed  with  the  bones  of  fishes, 
curiously  fashioned;    others  with  barbs  of  the  palm 

1  "  True  Relation,  etc.,  etc.,  given  by  a  Fidalgo  of  Elvas,"  translated  by  Buck- 
ingham Smith,  pp.  26,  27.  New  York,  1866.  Compare  "  Letter  of  Hernando  de 
Soto,"  etc.,  etc.,  translated  by  Buckingham  Smith,  p.  56.     Washington,  1854. 


248  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

and  other  hard  woods ;  and  some  were  three-pronged. 
They  were  feathered  in  a  triangular  manner  to  render 
their  flight  of  greater  accuracy.  The  Spaniards  could 
not  sufficiently  admire  their  beauty ;  they  took  them 
up,  and  passed  them  from  hand  to  hand,  examining 
and  praising  their  workmanship  and  extolling  the 
skill  of  their  owner.  The  youthful  Indian  continued 
thoughtfully  emptying  his  quiver  until,  almost  at  the 
last,  he  drew  forth  an  arrow  with  a  point  of  flint,  long 
and  sharp  and  shaped  like  a  dagger;  then,  casting 
around  a  glance,  and  seeing  the  Spaniards  engaged  in 
admiring  his  darts,  he  suddenly  plunged  the  weapon 
in  his  throat  and  fell  dead  on  the  spot. 

Unwilling  to  betray  the  place  of  concealment  of  his 
mother,  and  fearing  to  incur  the  displeasure  of  his 
queen  by  disobedience  of  her  mandate,  he  gave  him- 
self willingly  to  death.1 

The  Chevalier  Tonti,2  alluding  to  the  force  with 
which  their  arrows  were  projected  by  the  natives, 
says :  "  That  which  is  wonderful  in  this,  is  the  havock 
which  the  Shot  sent  by  the  Savages  makes ;  for,  besides 
the  exactness  and  swiftness  of  the  Stroke,  the  force  of 
it  is  very  surprizing,  and  so  much  the  rather,  because 
it  is  nothing  else  but  a  Stone,  or  a  Bone,  or  sometimes 
a  piece  of  very  hard  Wood  pointed  and  fastned  to  the 
end  of  an  Arrow  with  some  Fishes-glue,  that  causes  this 
terrible  effect.  When  the  Savages  go  to  War,  they 
poison  the  Point  or  extremity  of  their  Dart  so  that  if 
that  remains  in  the  Body  Death  follows  of  necessity ; 
the  only  Bemedy  in  this  case  is  to  draw  out  the  Arrow 
through  the  other  side  of  the  Wound,  if  it  goes  quite 

1  Irving's  "  Conquest  of  Florida,"  chapter  xlvii.,  pp.  225,   226.     New  York, 
1851. 

2  "  An  Account  of  Monsieur  de  La  Salle's  Last  Expedition  and  Discoveries  in 
North  America,"  p.  71.     Loudon,  1698. 


ARROWS    AND    AREOW-POINTS.  249 

tlirongli ;  or,  if  not,  to  make  an  aperture  on  the  other 
side,  and  so  to  draw  it  through ;  after  which  they  know 
by  instinct  certain  Herbs  the  application  of  which  both 
draws  out  the  Venom  and  Cures  them." 

In  Laudonniere's  introduction  to  his  history  of 
Jean  Eibault's  first  voyage  to  Florida,1  we  are  told 
that  the  Indians  had  no  weapons  other  than  bows  and 
arrows.  The  bow-string  was  made  "  of  the  gut  of  the 
stag,  or  of  a  stag's  skin  which  they  know  how  to  dress 
as  well  as  any  man  in  France,  and  with  as  different 
sorts  of  colors.  They  head  their  arrows  with  the 
teeth  of  fishes,  and  stone  which  they  work  very  finely 
and  handsomely." 

The  following  interesting  account  is  taken  from  the 
"  History  of  the  Bucaniers  of  America : " 2  "  On  the 
ninth  day  after  our  arrival,  our  women  slaves  being 
busied  in  ordinary  employments  of  washing  of  dishes, 
sewing,  drawing  water  out  of  wells  which  we  had  made 
on  the  shore,  and  the  like,  one  of  them  who  had  seen  a 
troop  of  Indians  towards  the  woods,  cried  out  Indians, 
Indians  !  We  ran  presently  to  our  arms  and  their  re- 
lief, but  coming  to  the  wood  we  found  no  person  there, 
but  two  of  our  women  slaves  killed  upon  the  place  with 
arrows :  in  their  bodies  we  saw  so  many  arrows  stick- 
ing, as  if  they  had  been  fixed  there  with  particular  care, 
for  otherwise  we  know  that  one  of  them  was  sufficient 
to  kill  any  man.  These  arrows  were  all  of  a  rare 
shape,  being  eight  feet  long,  and  as  thick  as  a  man's 
thumb ;  at  one  end  was  a  hook  of  wood,  tied  to  the 
body  of  the  arrow  with  a  string,  at  the  other  end 
was  a  case  or  box  like  the  case  of  a  pair  of  tweezers,  in 

1  "  Historical  Collections  of  Louisiana  and  Florida,"  by  B.  F.  French.     New 
Series,  pp.  170,  171.     New  York,  1869. 

3  Vol.  L,  pp.  212,  213,  fifth  edition.     London,  1771. 


250  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

which  we  found  little  pebbles  or  stones ;  the  color  was 
very  red,  very  shining,  as  if  they  had  been  locked  up, 
all  which  we  believed  were  the  arms  of  their  leaders. 
These  arrows  were  all  made  without  instruments  of 
iron  ;  for  whatever  the  Indians  make,  they  harden  first 
artificially  with  fire,  and  then  polish  them  with  flints." 
To  Thomas  Ash  we  are  indebted  for  the  following  de- 
scription of  the  Carolina  Indians,  as  he  saw  them  in 
1682  :  '  "The  natives  of  the  country  are  from  time  im- 
memorial ab  Origins  Indians,  of  a  deep  Chestnut  colour, 
their  Hair  black  and  streight,  tied  various  ways,  some- 
times oyl'd  and  painted,  stuck  through  with  Feathers 
for  Ornament  or  Gallantry  ;  their  Eyes  black  and  spar- 
kling, little  or  no  Hair  on  their  Chins,  well  limb'd  and 
featured,  painting  their  Faces  with  different  Figures  of  a 
red  or  sanguine  Colour,  whether  for  Beauty  or  to  ren- 
der themselves  formidable  til' their  Enemies,  I  could  not 
learn.  They  are  excellent  Hunters  ;  their  Weapons,  the 
Bow  and  Arrow,  made  of  a  Read,  pointed  with  sharp 
Stones  or  Fish-Bones ;  their  Cloathing,  Skins  of  the  Bear 
and  Deer,  the  Skin  drest  after  their  Country  Fashion." 
Discussing  the  "  handicrafts "  of  the  Virginia  In- 
dians, Beverly  writes  :  "  Before  I  finish  my  account  of 
the  Indians  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  inform  you  that 
when  the  English  went  first  anions;  them,  they  had  no 
sort  of  Iron  or  Steel  Instruments ;  "rAit-' their  Knives 
were  either  Sharpen'd  Reeds  or  Shells,  and  their  Axes 
sharp  Stones  bound  to  the  end  of  a  Stick  and  glued  in 
with  Turpentine.  By  the  help  of  these  they  made 
their  Bows  of  the  Locust  Tree,  an  excessive  hard  Wood 
when  it  is  dry,  but  much  more  easily  cut  when  it  is 
green,  of  which  they  always  took  the  advantage.    They 

4 
1  "  Carolina  ;  or  a  Description  of  the  Present  State  of  that  Country,"  etc.,  pub- 
lished »>y  T.  A.,  Gent.,  pp.  34,  35.     London,  1682. 


ARROWS,  HOW  MADE  AND  ARMED.        251 

made  their  Arrows  of  Keeds  or  small  Wands,  which 
needed  no  other  cutting  but  in  the  length,  being  other- 
wise ready  for  Notching,  Feathering,  and  Heading. 
They  fledged  their  Arrows  with  Turkey  Feathers,  which 
they  fastned  with  Glue  made  of  the  Velvet  Horns  of 
a  Deer,  but  it  has  not  that  quality  it's  said  to  have,  of 
holding  against  all  Weathers;  they  arni'd  the  Heads 
with  a  white  transparent  Stone,  like  that  of  Mexico  raen- 
tion'd  by  Peter  Martyr,  of  which  they  have  many  Rocks ; 
they  also  headed  them  with  the  Spurs  of  the  Wild 
Turkey  Cock."  ' 

Adair  testifies  to  the  accuracy  with  which  the 
Cherokee  Indians,  in  his  day,  used  their  bows  and  ar- 
rows and  threw  their  feathered  darts.  Speaking  of 
these  peoples,  he  declares :  "  They  make  perhaps  the 
finest   bows  and  the  smoothest  barbed  arrows  of  all 

'  mankind.  On  the  point  of  them  is  fixed  either  a 
scooped  point  of  buck-horn,  or  turkey-cock  spurs,  pieces 
of  brass,  or  flint  stone.  The  latter  sort  our  forefathers 
used,  which  our  witty  grandmothers  call  elf-stones,  and 
now  rub  the  cows  with,  that  are  so  unlucky  as  to  be 
shot  by  night  fairies.  One  of  those  flint  arrow-points 
is  reckoned  a  very  extraordinary  blessing  in  a  whole 
neighborhood  of  old  women,  both  for  the  former  cure, 
as  well  as  a  preservative  against  every  kind  of  bewitch- 
ing charm."  a 

As  early  as  1761  the  Cherokees  seem  to  have  aban- 
doned the  use  of  stone  arrow-heads,  and  in  their  stead 
to  have  substituted  points  of  metal.  Lieutenant  Henry 
Timberlake,  from  his  personal  observations,  furnishes 

t  us  with  their  method,  then  in  vogue,  of  pointing  arrows : 
"  Cutting  a  bit  of  thin  brass,  copper,  bone,  or  scales  of 

1  "  History  and  Present  State  of  Virginia,"  book  Hi.,  p.  60.     London,  1705. 

2  "History  of  the  American  Indians,"  p.  425.     London,  1775. 


r 


252  ANTIQUITIES    OF    THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

a  particular  fish, into. a  point  with  two  beards,  or  some 
into  an  acute  triangle,  they  split  a  little  of  their  arrow, 
which  is  generally  of  reeds ;  into  this  they  put  the 
point,  winding  some  deer's  sinew  round  the  arrow, 
and  through  a  little  hole  they  make  in  the  head ;  then 
they  moisten  the  sinew  with  their  spittle,  which,  when 
dry,  remains  fast  glewed,  nor  ever  untwists.  Their 
bows  are  of  several  sorts  of  wood,  dipped  in  bear's  oil, 
and  seasoned  before  the  fire,  and  a  twisted  bear's  gut 
for  the  string."  * 

Sj^ear-heads  were  fastened  to  wooden  handles,  eight 
or  ten  feet  in  length,  and  were  hurled  as  javelins.  At 
close  quarters  they  were  employed  to  ward  off  blows, 
and  to  deliver  thrusts,  without  quitting  the  hand. 
Among  the  Carolina  Indians  Lawson  observed  in 
1701  long  arrows  headed  with  pieces  of  glass,  which 
they  had  broken  from  bottles.  "  They  had  shaped 
them  neatly,  like  the  head  of  a  dart,  but  which  way 
they  did  it  I  cant  tell."  s  It  is  not  improbable  that 
this  historian  mistook  the  material  of  which  these 
arrow-points  were  made.  The  resemblance  between 
some  varieties  of  quartz,  or  obsidian  and  glass,  is  so 
close,  than  an  error  may  thus  have  occurred  in  the  ob- 
servation. We  know  that  the  Indians  of  California 
sometimes  make  arrow-heads  from  old  glass  bottles, 
and  Captain  Cook  states  that  the  New-Zealanders 
found  means  to  drill  a  hole,  with*  jasper,  through  a 
piece  of  glass  which  he  had  given  them,  so  that  it  might 
be  suspended  as  an  ornament  from  the  neck.  It  may" 
be,  therefore,  that  the  remark  of  Mr.  Lawson  is  entirely 
correct. 

Without  multiplying  these  historical  references,  it 

1  "Memoirs  of  Lieutenant  Henry  Timberlake,"  pp.  61,  62.     London,  1765. 

2  Lawson's  "  History  of  Carolina."     Reprint,  p.  99.     Raleigb,  1860. 


PUte    IV 


AM  PHOTOLITHOGRAPHIC  COM. noSBORNCS  PHOCCSS  I 


LARGE    SPEAR-HEAD.  253 

is  evident  that,  at  tine  period  of  our  earliest  acquaint- 
ance with  the  Southern  Indians,  the  bow  and  arrow 
were  in  general  use,  constituting,  in  the  hands  of  the 
natives,  an  indispensable,  effective,  and  deadly  weapon. 
Appreciating  the  vast  numbers  of  arrow  and  spear 
heads  which,  during  the  lapse  of  many  centuries,  must 
have  been  manufactured  and  expended  by  these  peo- 
ples in  hunting,  fishing,  in  their  games  and  in  frequent 
wars,  we  are  prepared  fully  to  understand  why  these 
flint  implements  are  found  in  such  quantities,  and  why 
they  should  form  the  most  common  proof  of  the  former . 
occupancy  of  the  soil  by  the  red-men. 

The  largest  spear  or  lance  head  we  have  seen 
within  the  geographical  limits  of  Georgia,  was  obtained 
in  a  grave-mound  which  stood  upon  the  point  of  land 
formed  by  the  confluence  of  the  Etowah  and  Ooste- 
naula  Rivers.  It  is  nearly  fourteen  inches  in  length, 
and  three  inches  and  a  quarter  in  width — weighing  two 
pounds  and  two  ounces,  avoirdupois.  (See~Fig.  1,  Plate 
VII.)  It  is  perfect,  with  the  exception  of  the  point 
which  was  broken  off  at  the  time  this  implement  was 
taken  from  the  mound.  No  spear-head  of  such  magni- 
tude, so  far  as  my  knowledge  extends,  has  been  found 
within  the  limits  of  the  Southern  States.  It  is  made  of 
flint,  and  the  conchoidal  fractures  caused  in  removing 
the  flakes  are  clearly  defined.  The  tumulus  from  which 
this  spear-head  was  obtained  was  circular  in  shape, 
about  twelve  feet  high,  and  with  a  base-diameter  of  fifty 
feet.  It  contained  numerous  skeletons,  and  afforded  a 
rich  yield  of  various  and  interesting  relics.  Sharing  the 
fate  which  has  overtaken  so  many  of  these  aboriginal 
monuments,  but  little  now  remains  to  mark  the  spot 
once  rendered  so  attractive  by  the  presence  of  this 
beautiful   tumulus.       The    grand    forest-trees   which 


254  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

formerly  grew  upon  and  threw  their  protecting  shad- 
ows about  it — trees  which,  in  all  likelihood,  sheltered 
De  Soto  and  his  companions,  as  resting  upon  the  ver- 
dant banks  of  the  Etowah  they  were  hospitably  enter- 
tained by  the  Cacique  of  Ichiaha — have  all  been  cut 
down,  and  the  earth  and  clay  composing  the  mound 
carted  away  to  assist  in  levelling  the  streets  of  the 
city  of  Rome,  and  aid  in  the  construction  of  a  landing- 
place  for  a  ferry-boat. 

The  second  spear-head  (Fig.  2,  Plate  VIL),  pointed 
at  both  ends,  and  regularly  chipped,  was  found  in  the 
valley  of  the  Chattahoochee,  a  few  miles  below  the 
city  of  Columbus.  It  is  twelve  inches  and  a  half  in 
length,  two  inches  and  four-tenths  wide,  and  weighs 
ten  and  three-quarter  ounces.  It  was  probably  hafted 
in  a  bone,  horn,  or  wooden  socket  at  the  end  of  the 
shaft.  The  similarity  between  this  implement  and 
that  figured  by  Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis,  on  page  211, 
of  the  "  Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley," is  remarkable.  I  refer  to  No.  3  in  Fig.  99.  It 
may  be  that  this  formidable  implement  was  used  as 
a  dagger. 

The  beautiful  spear-heads  represented  by  Nos.  1  and 
2,  Plate  VIII.,  were  taken  from  a  chieftain  mound  near 
Darien,  in  Mcintosh  County.  The  remaining  figures 
in  this  plate  illustrate  the  prevailing  types  of  these 
implements,  as  they  are  to  this  day  found  in  tumuli, 
ploughed  up  in  the  fields,  gathered  from  relic-beds,  or 
picked  up  on  the  sites  of  ancient  villages  and  open-air 
workshops. 

It  will  be  perceived  that  among  the  arrow-heads 
figured  in  the  accompanying  plate,1  are  all  the  varieties 
enumerated  by  Sir  W.  R.  Wilde,  viz.,  the  triangular, 

1  Figs.  1  to  41  inclusive,  Plate  IX. 


riauviii. 


AM  PHOTO  LITHOCfiAPHK  CO  N  t,  OSBOfMCS  PffOCtSS 


TYPICAL    FORMS    OF   ARROW-POINTS.  ZDO 

the  indented,  the  stemmed,  with  a  tang  or  projection 
for  insertion  into  the  shaft — the  barbed  and  the  leaf- 
shaped.  Nor  does  this  catalogue  embrace  them  all. 
The  modifications  of  the  one  idea  of  arming  the  point 
of  the  reed  or  wooden  arrow  with  a  piece  of  chipped 
flint  are  numerous.  From  a  collection  of  more  than 
two  thousand,  we  have  selected  these  as  presenting 
those  forms  in  general  use.  The  shark's  tooth  may  have 
suggested  the  shape  of  the  indented  arrow-point,  and 
the  serration  of  the  edges.  Fossil-shark's  teeth  are 
found  in  various  parts  of  Georgia  and  Carolina.  Their 
existence  was  known  to  the  aborigines,  who  some- 
times perforated  and  wore  them  as  ornaments  about 
their  necks.  The  writer  has  taken  them  from  the 
earth-mounds  on  the  coast. 

Some  of  these  arrow-points  (Fig.  40,  Plate  IX.) 
are  flat,  with  their  edges  bevelled  in  opposite  direc- 
tions. The  object  of  this  arrangement  was  to  cause 
the  arrow,  in  its  flight,  to  take  a  rotary  motion,  thereby 
increasing  the  violence  of  the  wound  when  the  barb 
had  entered  the  flesh.  The  same  effect  was  accom- 
plished by  using  the  half  twist  in  feathering  the  shaft. 
By  means  of  such  mountings  the  flight  of  the  arrow 
was  rendered  more  steady. 

The  use,  by  the  Indians,  of  the  hard  canes,  so  com- 
mon in  the  Southern  swamps,  as  arrow-stems,  seems  to 
be  substantiated  by  the  spike-shaped  flint  tips  of  which 
No.  32,  Plate  IX.,  may  be  regarded  as  typical.  These 
could  readily  have  been  inserted  in  the  hollow  of  the 
reed,  cut  for  that  purpose  at  such  a  remove  from  the 
joint  nearest  the  butt  of  the  arrow,  that  the  inserted 
end  of  the  spike,  closely  fitting,  would  rest  against  and 
be  held  in  position  by  it.  Often  has  the  writer 
adopted  this  method  of  spiking  his  arrows,  during  his 


256  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE   SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

youthful  days,  and  with  flint  tij>s  precisely  like  those 
under  consideration,  gathered  from  the  shell-mounds 
and  picked  up  in  the  old  Indian  fields  on  the  Colonel's 
Island. 

The  taste  displayed  in  the  selection  of  choice  and 
beautiful  material,  and  the  skill  exhibited  in  the  man- 
ufacture of  these  spear  and  arrow  heads  are  often  sur- 
prising and  excite  our  admiration.  Pellucid  crystals, 
smoky  quartz,  chalcedony,  carnelian,  jasper  of  varie- 
gated coloring,  flint,  and  other  hard  stones,  were 
chipped  with  a  regularity  and  delicacy  truly  astonish- 
ing. Especially  does  our  wonder  grow  when  we  re- 
member that  these  results  were  accomplished  without 
the  aid  of  metallic  tools.  Perfectly-formed  arrow- 
points  exist  in  the  writer's  cabinet,  less  than  half  an 
inch  in  length.1 

Bossu  says  that,  among  the  Chactaws,  the  children 
exercised  themselves  in  shooting  with  a  bow  and  arrow 
for  prizes.  "He  that  shoots  best  gets  the  prize  of 
praise  from  an  old  man,  who  calls  him  an  apprentice 
warrior ;  thus  they  are  formed  by  emulation,  without 
corporal  punishment ;  they  are  very  expert  in  shooting 
with  an  instrument  made  of  reeds,  about  seven  feet 
long,  into  which  they  put  a  little  arrow,  feathered  with 
the  wool  of  a  thistle,  and,  in  aiming  at  an  object,  they 
blow  into  the  tube,  and  often  hit  the  aim,  and  fre- 
quently kill  little  birds  with  it." a 

Captain  Eomans,  in  speaking  of  the  same  Indians, 
writes :  "  The  young  savages  also  use  a  very  strait  cane, 

1  Lieutenant  Timberlake,  in  his  memoirs  (p.  45),  mentions  the  circumstance 
that  the  Cherokee  children  at  eight  and  ten  years  of  age  were  very  expert  at  killing 
birds  and  small  game,  with  a  sarbacan  or  hollow  cane  through  which  they  blew 
a  small  dart,  and  with  such  precision  that  they  rarely  missed  of  striking  "the 
larger  sort  of  prey  "  in  the  eye.  These  small  arrow-points,  to  which  allusion  has 
been  made,  were  probably  chipped  for  children's  arrows. 

2  "  Travels  through  Louisiana,"  vol.  i.,  p.  306.     London,  1771. 


PHOTOLITHOGRAPHICCO  N  Y.{  OSBORNES  PROCESS  I 


BLOW-GUNS. BOWS    AND    ARROWS.  257 

ei<rht  or  nine  feet  Ions:,  cleared  of  its  inward  divisions 
of  the  joints ;  in  this  they  put  a  small  arrow,  whose 
one  end  is  covered  one-third  of  the  whole  length  with 
cotton,  or  something  similar  to  it ;  this  they  hold  near- 
est their  mouth,  and  blow  it  so  expertly  as  seldom  to 
miss  a  mark  fifteen  or  twenty  yards  off,  and  that  so 
violently  as  to  kill  squirrels  and  birds  therewith."  ' 

Between  this  miniature  arrow-tip  and  the  large 
flint  spear-head,  measuring  nearly  fourteen  inches, 
these  implements  are  seen  of  every  intermediate 
length,  and  of  various  colors — red,  blue,  yellow, 
white,  black  and  brown  predominating.  The  arrow 
and  spear  points  of  the  Southern  Indians,  as  a  gen- 
eral rule,  are  more  beautiful  than  those  manufac- 
tured by  tribes  who  inhabited  northern  latitudes.  The 
abundance  of  birds  and  small  game  in  the  swamps 
and  deep  forests  of  this  semi-tropical  region  invited  the 
use  of  flint  implements  of  a  delicate  character. 

If  not  inserted  in  the  end  of  a  hard  cane,  the  arrow- 
point  was  attached  to  a  reed  or  wooden  shaft  (a  slit 
or  notch  having  been  made  for  its  reception)  by  means 
of  moistened  threads  of  deer-sinews,  glue,  or  small 
strips  of  buckskin.  The  moistened  fibres  of  deer- 
sinews  were  generally  used.  These  filled  all  inequal- 
ities, both  in  the  stone  tip  and  in  the  butt  of  the  ar- 
row, were  very  tenacious,  and  when  dry  compassed  the 
juncture  auite  securely.  Hickory,  locust,  white-oak, 
ash  and  red-cedar  are  said  to  have  been  the  favorite 
woods  employed  by  the  Indians  in  the  manufacture 
of  their  bows.  These  they  seasoned  thoroughly  by 
artificial  heat,  and  frequently  anointed  with  bear's 
grease  to  render  them  flexible  and  keej)  them  from 

1  "Concise  Natural  History  of  East  and  West  Florida*"  etc.    New  York,  l^S, 
17 


258  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEEN   INDIANS. 

cracking  or  breaking.  The  customary  shape  of  the 
bow  was  that  of  a  single  curve,  strengthened  in  the 
middle.  Usually  plain,  these  bows  were  sometimes 
ornamented,  their  ends  terminating  in  tips  of  bone  or 
stag's  horn. 

De  Bry1  has  favored  us  with  several  representa- 
tions of  the  bows,  arrows,  and  quivers  of  the  Florida 
Indians. 

His  general  description  is  conveyed  in  the  follow- 
ing words :  .  .  .  "  strenui  tamen  &  pugnaces,  nee  alia 
habent,  prseter  arcum  &  sagittas,  anna.  Arcus  ner- 
vum  ex  cervino  intestino  ant  corio  adeo  concinne 
parare  norunt,  ut  Galli  melius  non  possint,  &  variis 
coloribus  infieiunt;  pro  mucrone  sagittarum  sunt 
piscium  dentes  &  lapides  affabre  adaptati.  Adoles- 
centes  cursu,  sagittarum  missione  &  pilse  ludo  exer- 
centur.  .  .  .  Venatione  &  piscatione  magnopere  clelec- 
tantur."  2 

Of  the  weapons  of  the  Virginia  Indians  lie  says : 
"  Eorum  anna  ad  nocendum  sunt  duntaxat  arcus  ex 
corylo,  &  sagite  ex  arundine,  deinde  stipites  lignei 
plani,  duorum  cubitorum  longitudine ; "  and  furnishes 
us  in  plate  iii.,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  with  the  form  of 
the  bow,  arrow,  and  quiver.3 

Reserve  arrows  were  carried  in  a  rude  quiver, 
made  of  deer,  fawn,  or  cougar  skin,  suspended  from  the 
left  shoulder,  and  hanging  just  behind  the  right  hip 
where  most  convenient  access  could  be  had.  Often 
these  arrows  were  not  feathered,  the  weight  of  the 
stone  tip  being  of  itself  sufficient  to  preserve  regularity 

1  "  Brevis  Narratio,"  etc.,   plates  xiii.,  xiv.,  xix.,  xxv.,  xxvii.,  xxxi.,  xxxiii.,  et 
seq.     Francoforti  ad  Mcenum.     Anno  1791. 

2  Idem.     Secunda  Pars,  p.  3. 

3  "  Admiranda  Narratio,"'  etc.,  p.  25,  plat§s  iii.,  xxiii.,  Francoforti  ad  Mcenum. 
Anuo  1590, 


FOECE  WITH  WHICH  AEEOWS  WEEE   PEOJECTED.       250 

of  flight.  The  rapidity  and  precision  with  which  the 
Indians  discharged  their  arrows,  when  occasion  re- 
quired, are  emphatically  testified  to  by  the  Spaniards, 
who  in  those  early  days,  because  of  their  cruelties, 
incurred  the  enmity  of  the  natives. 

In  the  battle  of  Mauilla  there  fell,  of  the  armor-clad 
Christians,  two  hundred.  Of  the  living,  one  hundred 
and  fifty  received  seven  hundred  wounds  from  the 
Indian  arrows.  Here  is  proof  most  emphatic  of  how 
valiantly  and  successfully  the  red-men  could  handle 
their  rude  weapons,  in  the  face  of  mailed  warriors,  in 
defence  of  home  and  country.  Testimony  is  not  want- 
ing substantiating  the  efficiency  and  force  with  which 
the  arrow  is  projected  by  modern  Indians.  The  history 
of  the  early  conflicts  of  the  colonists  is  filled  with  ex- 
amples of  the  deadly  effects  of  such  ancient  artillery, 
and  the  Dakota  chief  Wah-na-tah  is  said,  on  one 
occasion,  to  have  discharged  his  arrow  with  so  much 
vigor  that  it  entirely  traversed  the  body  of  a  female 
buffalo  and  killed  her  calf  on  the  other  side.1 

It  only  remains  for  us  to  consider  the  method 
adopted  by  the  natives  in  the  manufacture  of  these 
flint  implements.  So  far  as  my  knowledge  extends, 
the  use  of  iron  was  entirely  unknown  among  the 
primitive  peoples  of  this  region.  Copper  implements 
there  were,  of  limited,  variety,  but  these  occur  very 
rarely,  and  are  too  soft  for  contact  with  stone.  We  are 
consequently  compelled  to  the  belief  that  the  Indians 
fashioned  these  spear  and  arrow  heads  by  chipping 
them  with  implements  of  stone.  It  may  be  that  the 
serrated  edges,  and  perhaps  some  of  the  more  delicate 
arrow-heads,  were  formed  with  the  aid  of  instruments 

1  Schoolcraft's   "  Archives   of  Aboriginal  Knowledge,"   vol.   iv.,  pp.   95,  96. 
Philadelphia,  1860. 


2 GO  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

of  bone,  ivory,  or  Horn,  as  in  the  case  of  those  manu- 
factured by  the  western  Esquimaux  tribes,  as  described 
by  Admiral  SirE.  Belcher.1  This,  however,  is  scarcely 
probable,  although  Captain  John  Smith,  in  his  sixth 
voyage,  speaking  of  the  Virginia  Indians,  says :  "  His 
arrow-head  he  quickly  maketh  with  a  little  bone  which 
he  ever  weareth  at  his  bracept,  of  a  splint  of  a  stone  or 
glasse,  in  the  form  of  a  heart,  and  these  they  glew  to 
the  end  of  their  arrowes.  With  the  sinews  of  deer  and 
the  tops  of  deer's  horns  boiled^  to  a  jelly  they  make 
a  glue  which  will  not  dissolve  in  cold  water." 

We  are  of  opinion  that  the  Southern  Indians  flaked 
their  flint  implements  by  percussion  and  not  by  press- 
ure. The  latter  method  might  answer  with  obsidian, 
but  it  would  prove  an  endless  and  futile  process  if 
quartz,  chert,  jasper,  and  flint  are  the  materials  used  in 
the  manufacture. 

Schoolcraft  thus  describes  the  mode  .observed  by 
North  American  Indians  in  the  preparation  of  flint 
arrow  and  spear  heads :  "  The  skill  displayed  in  this 
art,  as  it  is  exhibited  by  the  tribes  of  the  entire 
j  continent,  has  excited  admiration.  The  material  em- 
ployed is  generally  some  form  of  horn-stone,  sometimes 
passing  into  flint.  This  mineral  is  often  called  chert 
by  the  English  mineralogists.  No  specimens  have, 
however,  been  observed  where .  the  substance  is  gun- 
flint.  The  horn-stone  is  less  hard  than  common  quartz, 
and  can  readily  be  broken  by  contact  with  the  latter. 
Experience  has  taught  the  Indian  that  some  varieties 
of  horn-stone  are  less  easily  and  regularly  fractured 
than  others,  and  that  the  tendency  to  a  conchoidal 
fracture  is   to  be  relied  on  in  the  softer  varieties.     It 

]  See  Stevens'  "Flint  Chips,"  p.  80,  et  seq.  London,  1870.  Compare  Evans' 
"Ancient  Stone  Implements,  etc.,  of  Great  Britain,"  pp.  37,  38.    Loudon,  1872. 


MANUFACTURE    OF   ARROW -POINTS,  261 

has  also  shown  him  that  the  weathered  or  surface 
fragments  are  harder  and  less  manageable  than  those 
quarried  from  the  rocks  or  mountains.  To  break 
them  he  seats  himself  on  the  ground,  and  holds  the 
lump  on  one  of  his  thighs,  interposing  some  hard  sub- 
stance below  it.  When  the  blow  is  given,  there  is  a 
sufficient  yielding  in  the  piece  to  be  fractured,  not  to 
endanger  its  being  shivered  into  fragments.  Many 
are,  however,  lost.  After  the  lump  has  been  broken 
transversely,  it  requires  great  skill  and  patience  to 
chip  the  edges.  Such  is  the  art  required  in  this  busi- 
ness, both  in  selecting  and  fracturing  the  stones,  that 
it  is  found  to  be  the  employment  of  particular  men, 
generally  old  men  who  are  laid  aside  from  hunting,  to 
make  arrow  and  spear  heads."  x 

Catlin,  in  his  "Last  Rambles  amongst  the  Indians," 
speaking  of  arrow-making  among  the  Apaches,  says : 
"  Every  tribe  has  its  factory  in  which  these  arrow- 
heads are  made,  and  in  those  only  certain  adepts  are 
able  or  allowed  to  make  them  for  the  use  of  the  tribe. 
Erratic  bowlders  of  flint  are  collected  (and  sometimes 
brought  an  immense  distance)  and  broken  with  a  sort 
of  sledge-hammer,  made  of  a  rounded  pebble  of  horn- 
stone  set  in  a  twisted  withe  holding  the  stone  and 
forming  a  handle.  The  flint,  at  the  indiscriminate 
blows  of  the  sledge,  is  broken  into  a  hundred  pieces, 
and  such  flakes  selected  as  from  the  angles  of  their 
fracture  and  thickness  will  answer  as  the  basis  of  an 
arrow-head. 

"  The  master- workman,  seated  on  the  ground,  lays 
one  of  these  flakes  on  the  palm  of  his  left  hand,  hold- 
ing it  firmly  down  with  two  or  more  fingers  of  the 
same  hand,  and  with   his  right  hand,  between   the 

1  "  Archives  of  Aboriginal  Knowledge,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  467.     Philadelphia,  1800. 


202  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOOTHEKN   INDIANS. 

thumb  and  two  forefingers,  places  his  chisel  (or  punch) 
on  the  point  that  is  to  be  broken  off;  and  a  coopera- 
tor  (a  striker)  sitting  in  front  of  him,  with  a  mallet  of 
very  hard  wood,  strikes  the  chisel  (or  punch)  on  the 
upper  end,  flaking  the  flint  off  on  the  under  side,  be- 
low each  projecting  point  that  is  struck.  The  flint  is 
then  turned  and  chipped  in  the  same  manner  from  the 
opposite  side,  and  so  turned  and  chipped  until  the  re- 
quired shape  and  dimensions  are  obtained — all  the 
fractures  being  made  on  the  palm  of  the  hand. 

"In  selecting  a  flake  for  the  arrow-head,  a  nice  judg- 
ment must  be  used,  or  the  attempt  will  fail ;  a  flake 
with  two  opposite  parallel,  or  nearly  parallel  planes,  is 
found,  and  of  the  thickness  required  for  the  centre  of 
the  arrow-point.  The  first  chipping  reaches  near  to 
the  centre  of  these  planes,  but  without  quite  breaking 
it  away,  and  each  chipping  is  shorter  and  shorter  until 
the  shape  and  the  edge  of  the  arrow-head  are  formed. 

"  The  yielding  elasticity  of  the  palm  of  the  hand 
enables  the  chip  to  come  off  without  breaking  the  body 
of  the  flint,  which  would  be  the  case  if  they  were 
broken  on  a  hard  substance.  These  people  have  no 
metallic  instruments  to  work  with,  and  the  instrument 
(punch)  which  they  use,  I  was  told,  was  a  piece  of 
bone ;  but  on  examining  it,  I  found  it  to  be  a  substance 
much  harder,  made  of  the  tooth  (incisor)  of  the  sperm- 
whale,  which  cetaceans  are  often  stranded  on  the  coast 
of  the  Pacific.  This  punch  is  about  six  or  seven  inches 
in  length,  and  one  inch  in  diameter,  with  one  rounded 
side,  and  two  plane  sides,  therefore  presenting  one 
acute  and  two  obtuse  angles  to  suit  the  points  to  be 
broken.  This  operation  is  very  curious,  both  the 
holder  and  the  striker  singing,  and  the  strokes  of  the 
mallet  given  exactly  in  time  with  the  music,  and  with 


MANUFACTURE    OF   ARROW-POINTS.  263 

a  sharp  and  rebounding  blow,  in  which,  the  Indians  tell 
us,  is  the  great  medicine  (or  mystery)  of  the  operation."  ' 

Commenting  upon  this  description,  Mr.  Stevens 
observes :  "  What  Catlin  has  said  with  reference  to  a 
rebounding  blow,  is  perfectly  true;  it  is  impossible  to 
flake  flint  with  a  dull,  heavy,  smashing  blow ;  it  is  the 
measured  and  rebounding  blow — a  shock  rather  than 
a  blow — which,  given  with  judgment,  enables  the  mate- 
rial to  take  its  own  line  of  cleavage,  and  produces  what 
is  so  well  known  as  the  conchoidal  fracture.  It  is  the 
presence  of  this  conchoidal  fracture,  resulting  from 
human  skill,  that  distinguishes  the  mere  splinter  of 
flint  from  the  flint-flake." 2 

Lieutenant  Beckwith,  in  1854,  saw  a  Pah-Utah  In- 
dian, seated  on  the  ground,  make  from  a  fragment  of 
quartz,  with  a  piece  of  round  bone,  one  end  of  which 
was  Hemispherical  with  a  small  crease  in  it  (as  if  Avorn 
by  a  thread)  the  sixteenth  of  an  inch  deep,  an  arrow- 
head which  was  very  sharp  and  piercing,  and  in  all 
respects  similar  to  those  in  general  use  among  the  In- 
dians of  that  region.  He  says  :  "  The  skill  and  rapidity 
with  which  it  was  made,  without  a  blow,  but  by  sim- 
ply breaking  the  sharp  edges  with  the  creased  bone, 
by  the  strength  of  his  hands — for  the  crease  merely 
served  to  prevent  the  instrument  from  slipping,  afford- 
ing no  leverage — were  remarkable."  3 

In  1860,  Hon.  Caleb  Lyon  communicated  to  the 
American  Ethnological  Society  an  account  of  the 
manufacture  of  arrow-heads  of  flint,  glass,  obsidian, 
and  other  materials,  by  the  Shasta  Indians  of  Califor- 
nia :  "  The  Shasta  Indian  seated  himself  on  the  floor, 

1  Catlin,  "  Last  Rambles  amongst  the  Indians,"  chapter  v.,  p.  187,  et  scq. 

*  "Flint  Chips,"  pp.  83,  84.     London,  1870. 

3  "  Report  of  Explorations  for  a  Route  for  the  Pacific  Railroad,"  1854,  p.  43. 


204  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEKN   INDIANS. 

and,  placing  the  stone  anvil  upon  his  knee,  which  was 
of  compact  talcose  slate,  with  one  blow  of  his  agate 
chisel  he  separated  the  obsidian  pebble  into  two  parts, 
then  giving  another  blow  to  the  fractured  side,  he  split 
off  a  slab  a  fourth  of  an  inch  in  thickness.  Holding 
the  piece  against  the  anvil  with  the  thumb  and'  finger 
of  his  left  hand,  he  commenced  a  series  of  continuous 
blows,  every  one  of  which  chipped  off  fragments  of  the 
brittle  substance.  It  gradually  assumed  the  required 
shape.  After  finishing  the  base  of  the  arrow-head  (the 
whole  being  only  little  over  an  inch  in  length),  he 
began  striking  gentler  blows,  every  one  of  which  I  ex- 
pected would  break  it  into  pieces.  Yet,  such  was  their 
adroit  application,  his  skill  and  dexterity,  that  in  little 
over  an  hour  he  produced  a  perfect  obsidian  arrow- 
head. I  then  requested  him  to  carve  me  one  from  the 
remains  of  a  broken  porter-bottle,  which  (after  two 
failures),  he  succeeded  in  doing.  He  gave  as  a  reason 
for  his  ill-success,  he  did  not  understand  the  grain  of 
the  glass.  No  sculptor  ever  handled  a  chisel  with 
greater  precision,  or  more  carefully  measured  the  weight 
and  effect  of  every  blow,  than  this  ingenious  Indian ; 
for,  even  among  them,  arrow-making  is  a  distinct  trade 
or  profession,  which  many  attempt,  but  in  which  few 
attain  excellence.  He  understood  the  capacity  of  the 
material  he  wrought,'  and,  before  striking  the  first 
blow,  by  surveying  the  pebble,  he  could  judge  of  its 
availability  as  well  as  the  sculptor  judges  of  the  perfec- 
tion of  a  block  of  Parian.  In  a  moment,  all  that  I  had 
read  upon  this  subject,  written  by  learned  and  specula- 
tive antiquarians,  of  the  hardening  of  copper  for  the 
working  of  flint  axes,  spears,  chisels,  and  arrow-heads, 
vanished  before  the  simplest  mechanical  process.    I  felt 


DIFFEEENT    FOEMS    OF   AEEOW-POESTTS.  265 

that  tlie  world  had  been  better  served  bad  they  driven 
the  pen  less  and  the  plough  more."  ' 

In  view  of  these  positive  observations,  it  is  fair  to 
presume  that  the  method  adopted  by  the  modern 
Indians  in  the  manufacture  of  their  common  flint  arrow 
and  spear  heads  was  but  the  perpetuation  of  a  mode 
which  existed  among  the  red-men  prior  to  historic 
times.  It  is  the  writer's  impression  that  the  flint 
implements  found  in  Georgia  and  the  Southern  States 
were  made  by  percussion — hammers  of  wood  and  stone, 
and  stone  chisels  being  used  in  removing  the  flakes. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  analyze 
for  a  moment  the  prevailing  types  of  these  arrow  and 
spear  points.  The  primary,  rudimentary,  or  simplest 
shape  is  that  of  either  an  isosceles  or  equilateral 
triangle  (Figs.  1  and  2,  Plate  IX.). 

How  various  soever  the  forms  may  be,  upon  exam- 
ination they  will  be  found  to  be  modifications  of  this 
idea.  Thus,  if  the  lower  corners  of  the  triangular 
arrow-point  are  rounded,  we  have  the  leaf-shaped 
implement  (Fig.  3,  Plate  IX.), 

Still  preserving  the  triangular  form,  and  merely 
cutting  a  notch  on  each  side  to  facilitate  its  attachment 
to  the  shaft,  we  obtain  the  very  common  variety  indi- 
cated in  Figs.  9,  15,  and  21,  Plate  IX. 

Hollowing  out  the  base  of  the  triangle  gives  us 
the  indented  or  shark's-tooth  form  (Figs.  10,  26,  27,  and 
28,  Plate  IX.). 

Add  the  notch  on  each  side,  and  we  see  the  beauti- 
ful implement  to  this  day  manufactured  by  the  Cali- 
fornia Indians,  so  skilfully,  out  of  obsidian  (Fig.  41, 
Plate  IX.). 

1  "  Bulletin  of  the  American  Ethnological  Society,"  vol.  i.,  p.  39.     New  Yorkj 
:860-'61. 


266  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

The  spike-shaped  arrow-point  (Figs.  31,  32,  Plate 
IX.),  found  among  the  refuse-piles  marking  the  spots 
where  the  Southern  Indians  congregated  for  the  pur- 
poses of  hunting  and  fishing,  is  but  another  modifica- 
tion of  the  same  triangular  idea,  to  facilitate  its  inser- 
tion in  the  hollow  of  the  hard  cane. 

Various  are  the  modifications  of  the  base  of  the 
triangle,  designed  either  to  form  a  tang  or  projection 
for  sinking  into  the  shaft,  or  to  facilitate  its  attachment 
to  the  arrow-stem. 

Another  form  not  infrequent  in  Georgia,  and  quite 
common  in  Tennessee,  in  which  the  apex  of  the  triangle 
and  the  base  have  both  been  rounded,  is  seen  in  Fig. 
20,  Plate  IX.  * 

To  these  may  be  added  the  arrow-point  with  a 
bifurcated  tang  (Fig.  36,  Plate  IX.). 

We  ought  to  mention  also  the  chisel-ended,  the  one- 
barbed  or  single-winged,  and  the  repointed  arrow-heads. 
We  are  inclined,  however,  to  regard  the  numerous  speci- 
mens of  these  sorts  which  have  passed  under  our  obser- 
vation (and  of  which  we  have  many  in  our  l^lection) 
as  examples  rather  of  misfortune  than  of  original  design. 
They  may  be  rated  as  abnormal  types,  and  reckoned 
as  unwilling  deviations,  on  the  part  of  the  manufac- 
turer, from  the  symmetrical  forms  he  -desired  to  attain. 
Accident  in  manufacture,  and  the  effort  to  remodel  the 
implement  after  it  had  been  broken,  gave  rise  to  most 
of  these  unusual  varieties.  They  show  how  carefully 
these  primitive  peoples  economized  their  stone  weap- 
ons, reforming  them  after  they  had  been  'seriously  im- 
paired, and  using  them  even  when  they  scarcely 
answered  the  accurate  purposes  for  which  they  were 
designed.  Under  the  general  term  toasters,  we  might 
enumerate  many  partially-formed,  defective,  and  mis- 


CLASSIFICATION    OF   AKHOW-POINTS,    ETC.  267 

shapen  arrow  and  spear  points  with  wliich  the  relic- 
beds  and  open-air  workshops,  located  upon  the  banks 
of  many  Southern  streams,  abound. 

It  is  hardly  proper,  however,  to  pursue  this  attempt 
at  classification  any  further.  Were  we  to  note  all  the 
varieties  which  suggest  themselves,  we  would  be  led 
into  a  multiplicity  of  illustrations  which  would  do 
little  more  than  represent  the  individual  skill  and 
fancies  of  the  respective  workmen,  the  various  casual- 
ties to  which  these  implements  had  been  subjected  dur- 
ing the  process  of  manufacture  and  subsequent  use, 
and  the  modifications  of  form  consequent  thereupon. 

Fashioned  all  after  the  same  general  idea,  there  is, 
nevertheless,  in  the  many  beautiful  varieties  which  we 
encounter,  in  the  delicacy  and  regularity  with  which 
these  flint  implements  have  been  chipped  into  forms 
of  ornament  and  use,  much  to  engage  our  attention 
and  elevate  our  conception  of  the  skill  of  these  primi- 
tive arrow-makers. 

Before  dismissing  the  further  consideration  of  these 
implements  of  war,  venery,  and  piscary,  we  would  refer 
to  two  unusual  relics,  one  found  in  a  grave-mound  near 
the  Warrior  River,  in  Alabama,  and  the  other  taken 
by  Professor  Joseph  Jones  from  a  stone  grave  in 
Tennessee. 

The  former  (Fig.  3,  Plate  VII.)  is  a  fiuit  dagger, 
well  chipped,  and  seven  inches  and  a  half  in  length. 
If  our  information  be  correct,  this  is  the  first  relic 
of  this  description  which  has  been  brought  to  light 
within  the  territorial  limits  once  occupied  by  the 
Southern  tribes.  In  regularity  of  outline,  and  ex- 
cellence of  manufacture,  it  is  not  inferior  to  the 
Danish  daggers — the  handle  being  more  completely 
formed  than  that  of  any  of  the  three  figured  by  Sir 


268  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

John  Lubbock  on  page  97  of  his  "  Pre-historic  Times." 
The  situs  of  this  implement,  and  the  age  of  the  tumu- 
lus from  which  it  was  taken,  forbid  the  idea  that  it 
could  have  been  modelled  after  the  fashion  of  a  modern 
dagger.  It  should  be  referred  to  the  invention  and 
skill  of  the  ancient  peojdes  who  erected  the  mound 
and  filled  the  region  with  specimens  of  their  pro- 
ficiency in  flint-chipping. 

The  latter-  (Fig.  4,  Plate  VII),  Professor  Jones 
calls  a  stone  sword.  This  interesting  relic  was  found 
by  Dr.  Jones  in  an  hexagonal  stone  grave,  forming  the 
centre  of  a  burial-mound,  located  within  an  ancient 
earthwork  enclosing  thirteen  tumuli  on  the  bank  of 
the  Big  Harpeth  Kiver,  near  Franklin,  Tennessee.  A 
little  less  than  twenty-two  inches  in  length,  this  flint 
implement  is  an  inch  and  three  quarters  broad  at  its 
widest  part,  and  is  serrated  on  both  edges.  It  is  care- 
fully chipped  on  either  side  from  the  edge  toward  the 
central  portion,  where  it  is  an  inch  thick.  Strong  and 
serviceable  was  this  weapon.  Hafted  in  horn  or  wood, 
it  could  have  been  used  as  a  sword ;  or,  attached  to 
the  end  of  a  shaft,  it  would  have  constituted  a  for- 
midable spear.  In  either  case,  if  properly  handled,  it 
would  have  proved  an  effective  and  dangerous  weapon. 
After  all,  we  cannot  positively  affirm  that  this  serrated 
implement  was  not  intended  to  subserve  the  uses  of 
a  saw.  In  all  likelihood,  however,  it  was  fashioned 
to  answer  the  purposes  of  a  lance-head,  sword,  or 
dagger. 

Fig.  5  of  Plate  VII.  is  a  typical  form  of  the  stone 
daggers  manufactured  by  the  ancient  peoples  of  this 
semi-tropical  region.  Made  of  flint,  it  closely  resem- 
bles some  varieties  of  spear-points  and  cutting  imple- 
ments. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Grooved  Axes.— Hand  and  Wedge-shaped  Axes  or  Celts. — Perforated  and  Orna- 
mental or  Ceremonial  Axes. — Chisels. — Gouges. — Scrapers. — Flint  Knives. — 
Awls,  or  Borers. — Leaf-shaped  Implements. — Smoothing-Stones. — Drift-Im- 
plements. 

Ignorant  of  the  uses  of  iron — that  most  valuable 
of  all  metals — the  Southern  Indians  in  their  agricultu- 
ral, mechanical,  and  warlike  pursuits,  were  driven  to 
great  shifts  to  supply  the  deficiency.  In  this  attempt 
stone,  wood,  bone,  shell,  and  copper  to  a  limited  ex- 
tent, were  employed.  Implements  formed  of  these 
materials  answered  in  a  rude  way  the  various  wants 
of  these  primitive  peoples,  the  same  tool  being  often 
applied  to  different  uses  as  the  necessities  of  the  case 
and  the  poverty  of  the  owner  demanded.  Of  all  the 
ancient  incisive  implements  characteristic  of  the  North 
American  tribes,  none  is  more  marked  or  more  gener- 
ally distributed  than  the  stone  axe.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  arrow  and  spear  points,  there  is,  in  the  various 
illustrations  furnished  by  De  Bry,  a  singular  ab- 
sence of  every  thing  like  stone  weapons  and  tools. 
War-clubs,  cane  knives,  hoes  made  of  fish-bones,  and 
wooden  paddles  are  distinctly  portrayed,  but  not  a 
single  stone  axe  is  figured.  In  plate  xxvii.  (convivi- 
orum  apparatus)  of  the  "  Brevis  Narratio,"  lying  upon 


270  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE   SOTJTHEEN   INDIANS. 

the  ground  near  the  large  pot  upon  the  fire,  is  a  stout 
implement  like  a  bill,  with  a  handle  probably  two 
feet  in  length.  Head,  point,  and  handle  are  all  of  the 
same  material,  and  evidently  of  wood.  The  axe  fig- 
ured in  the  hands  of  a  native  in  the  act  of  killing 
Peter  Gambie  in  a  boat,  is  certainly  metallic,  and  of 
European  manufacture.1 

If  we  relied  upon  these  illustrations  for  informa- 
tion, they  would  lead  us  to  believe  that  stone  imple- 
ments were  infrequent  among  the  Indians  of  Virginia 
and  Florida.  Other  investigations,  the  testimony  of 
tumuli  and  of  cultivated  fields,  and  the  contents  of 
numerous  relic-beds  assure  us,  however,  that  such  was 
not  the  fact.  Various  authorities  might  be  cited  con- 
curring in  the  statement  that  the  manufacture  and  use 
of  stone  axes  by  the  North  American  Indians  were 
veiy  general.  From  the  many  which  suggest  them- 
selves, we  select  the  following  that  the  historical  evi- 
dence on  this  subject  may  be  fairly  presented : 

"  Instead  of  Hatchets  and  Knives,"  says  Father  Hen- 
nepin,2 "  they  (the  Indians)  make  use  of  sharp  Stones 
which  they  fasten  in  a  cleft  piece  of  Wood  with  Leather 
Thongs." 

By  Loskiel 3  we  are  informed  that  "  their  hatchets 
were  wedges,  made  of  hard  stones,  six  or  eight  inches 
long,  sharpened  at  the  edge,  and  fastened  to  a  wooden 
handle.  They  were  not  used  to  fell  trees,  but  only  to 
peel  them,  or  to  kill  their  enemies." 

In  commenting  upon  the  "  handicrafts  "  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Indians,  Beverly  4  writes : 

1  "  Brevis  Narratio,"  etc.,  plate  xlii.    Francoforti  ad  Moenuui,  De  Bry.    Anno 
1591. 

2  "  Continuation  of  the  New  Discovery,"  etc.,  p.  103.     London,  1698. 

3  "  History  of  the  Mission  of  the  United  Brethren,"  etc.,  p.  54.     London, 
1794. 

4  "  History  and  Present  State  of  Virginia,"  book  iii.,  p.  60.     London,  1705. 


MANUFACTURE    OF   STONE   AXES.  27l 

"  Before  I  finisli  my  account  of  the  Indians  it  will 
not  be  amiss  to  inform  you  that  when  the  English 
went  first  among  them  they  had  no  sort  of  Iron  or 
Steel  Instruments ;  but  their  Knives  were  either  Sharp- 
ened Reeds  or  Shells,  and  their  Axes  sharp  Stones 
bound  to  the  end  of  a  Stick,  and  glued  in  with  Turpen- 
tine. By  the  help  of  these  they  made  their  Bows  of 
the  Locust  Tree,  an  excessive  hard  Wood  when  it  is 
dry,  but  much  more  easily  cut  when  it  is*  green,  of 
which  they  always  took  the  advantage." 

To  Lafitau '  we  are  indebted  for  the  following  in- 
teresting account:  "Stone  axes  have  been  in  use  in 
America  from  time  immemorial.  They  are  made  of  a 
kind  of  very  hard  and  tough  stone,  and  it  requires 
much  labor  to  make  them  fit  for  use.  They  are  pre- 
pared by  the  process  of  grinding  on  a  sandstone  and 
finally  assume,  at  the  sacrifice  of  much  time  and  labor? 
nearly  the  shape  of  our  axes,  or  of  a  wedge  for  split- 
ting wood.  The  life  of  a  savage  is  often  insufficient 
for  accomplishing  the  work,  and  hence  such  an  imple- 
ment, however  rude  and  imperfect  it  may  be,  is  con- 
sidered a  precious  heirloom  for  the  children.  When 
the  stone  is  finished  the  difficulty  of  providing  it  with 
a  handle  arises.  They  select  a  young  tree,  of  which 
they  make  a  handle,  without  cutting  it.  They  split 
one  end  and  insert  the  stone.  The  tree  grows,  tight- 
ens around  it,  and  encloses  it  so  firmly  that  it  hardly 
can  be  torn  out." 

This  method  of  hafting  a  stone  axe  was  also  prac- 
tised by  the  Louisiana  and  Alabama  Indians  who, 
according  to  Captain  Bossu,9  chose  a  young  tree  in 

1  "  Moeurs   des  Sauvages  Ameriquaius,"  vol.  i.,  p.  110.     Paris,   1724  (Prof. 
Rau's  translation). 

2  "Travels  through  the  Part  of  Xorth  America  formerly  called  Louisiana," 
etc.,  vol.  i.,  p.  223.     London,  1771. 


272  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

which — having  made  an  incision  with  a  flint  or  peb- 
ble as  sharp  as  a  razor — they  inserted  "  a  stone  cut  in 
the  form  of  a  hatchet."  As  the  tree  grew  up,  it  en- 
cased the  stone  which  by  that  means  became  insepa- 
rable from  it.  Afterward  they  cut  off  the  tree  at  the 
proper  length,  so  as  to  have  a  handle  to  the  axe  of 
convenient  form.  The  same  writer  intimates  that 
lance-heads  and  darts  were  fastened  to  their  shafts  in 
a  similar  manner.  Du  Pratz '  describes  the  axes  of 
the  Louisiana  Indians  as  made  of  a  dark-gray  stone  of 
tine  grain.  "  Whether  these  stones,"  says  he,  "  were 
naturally  flat  or  were  ground  on  other  hard  stones, 
such  as  the  sand-stone  found  in  Louisiana,  certain  it  is 
they  succeeded  in  making  axes.  These  stone  axes 
are  an  inch  or  more  thick  at  the  head,  and  half  an 
inch  in  thickness  for  three-quarters  of  their  length. 
The  edge  is  bevelled  (forme  en  biseau)  but  not  cut- 
ting, and  may  be  four  inches  wide,  while  the  head 
is  only  three  inches  in  width.  This  head  is  provided 
with  a  cavity — deep  enough  to  admit  a  finger — in- 
order  to  facilitate  the  fastening  of  the  blade  in  the 
split  end  of  the  handle ;  and  this  end  is,  moreover, 
firmly  bound,  to  prevent  further  splitting.  But  there 
is  another  inconvenience.  In  using  these  axes  it  was 
not  possible  to  cut  wood,  but  merely  to  bruise  it ;  and 
therefore  they  always  hacked  the  trees  close  to  the 
ground  in  order  that  the  fire  which  they  kindled  here 
might  consume  more  readily  the  fibres  of  the  wood 
braised  by  the  axe.  Finally,  by  dint  of  labor  ancl 
patience  they  succeeded  in  felling  the  tree.  This 
labor  requires  much  time;  and  formerly,  therefore, 
they  were  much  more  occupied  than  at  present,  being 
now  provided  with  axes  which  we  trade  to  them." 

1  "HistoL-e  de  la  Lou's'ane,"  vol.  i.,  p.  166.     Pari?,  1785. 


STONE    AXES    OF    THE    CIIEROKEES.  2  <  3 

Writing  with  special  reference  to  the  Cherokee 
Indians,  Adair '  advises  ns  that  they  "  formerly  had 
stone  axes,  which  in  form  commonly  resembled  a  smith's 
chisel.  Each  weighed  from  one  to  two  or  three  pounds 
weight.  They  were  made  of  a  flinty  kind  of  stone: 
I  have  seen  several  which  chanced  to  escape  being 
buried  with  their  owners,  and  were  carefully  preserved 
by  the  old  people  as  respectable  remains  of  antiquity. 
They  twisted  two  or  three  tough  hiccory  slips,  of  about 
two  feet  long,  round  the  notched  head  of  the  axe ;  and 
by  means  of  this  simple  and  obvious  invention  they 
deadened  the  trees  by  cutting  through  the  bark,  and 
burned  them,  when  they  either  fell  by  decay  or  be- 
came thoroughly  dry.  With  these  trees  they  always 
kept  up  their  annual  holy  fire  ;  and  they  reckon  it  un- 
lawful, and  productive  of  many  temporal  evils,  to  ex- 
tinguish even  the  culinary  fire  with  water.  ...  By  the 
aforesaid  difficult  method  of  deadening  the  trees,  and 
clearing  the  woods,  the  contented  natives  got  conven- 
ient fields  in  process  of  time." 

It  may  be  fairly  stated  that  greenstone  or  diorite 
was  the  favorite  material  used  by  the  Southern  Indians 
in  the  manufacture  of  their  axes.  Tough  and  durable 
in  its  character,  this  stone  best  answered  the  purposes 
for  which  implements  of  the  sort  we  are  now  consid- 
ering were  designed.  Comparatively  few  were  made 
of  flint.  Rarely  does  a 'chipped  axe  occur — by  far  the 
greater  number  being  ground  or  rubbed  into  the  de- 
sired shape  through  the  tedious  process  of  attrition 
with  some  other  stone. 

With  a  view  to  a  more  definite  description,  the 
.stone  axes  of  the  Southern  Indians  may  be  classified 
thus : 

1  "History  of  the  American  Indians,"  etc.,  p.  405.      London,  1775. 


274  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

I.  Grooved  Axes. — These  are  frequently  met  with 
in  the  sepulchral  tumuli,  upon  the  sites  of  old  villages, 
in  relic-beds,  and  in  cultivated  fields.  In  former  times 
they  were  in  very  general  use.  It  may  be  remarked, 
in  passing,  that  this  type,  while  not  unknown,  was 
certainly  unusual  among  the  ancient  peoples  of  Europe. 
In  the  ninety-six  plates  which  illustrate  the  "  Lake 
Dwellings  of  Switzerland,  and  other  parts  of  Europe, 
by  Dr.  Ferdinand  Keller,"  '  we  seek  in  vain  for  an  axe 
of  this  description.  There  is  a  remarkable  absence  of 
implements  of  this  kind  among  the  many  and  interest- 
ing relics  so  intelligently  discussed  and  presented  by 
Mr.  Evans  in  his  recent  admirable  work  upon  "  The 
Ancient  Stone  Implements,  Weapons,  and  Ornaments 
of  Great  Britain."  But  two  are  figured  by  Mr.  Nils- 
son  2 — one  of  diorite  found  in  the  ground,  near  Gad- 
darod,  in  the  parish  of  Horrod,  and  the  other  of  horn- 
blend,  taken  from  a  bog  near  Lund.  He  appears 
somewhat  at  a  loss  how  to  classify  them,  and  inclines 
to  the  opinion  that  they  were  "  wedges  with  which  to 
split  wood."  Here,  however,  no  doubt  exists  in  the 
mind  of  the  observer.  The  largest  grooved  axe  found 
within  the  geographical  limits  of  Georgia,  which  has 
passed  under  the  personal  observation  of  the  writer, 
weighs  nearly  ten  pounds,  is  ten  inches  and  a  quarter 
in  length,  six  inches  wide,  and  two  inches  and  a  half 
thick.  The  groove  is  an  inch  and  a  half  wide,  and 
nearly  half  an  inch  in  depth.  The  elevated  ridges  on 
each  side  of  the  groove  are  three  quarters  of  an  inch 
wide.  In  the  formation  of  this  groove  or  transverse 
furrow,  as  well  as  in  imparting  shape  to  this  implement, 

1  London,  1866. 

'"Primitive  Inhabitants  of  Scandinavia,"  plate  viii.,  figs.  166,167.     London, 


JPtataX 


AM  PHOTOi  IWOOHAPHIC  CO  Mr  I OSBORHES  PROCESS  I 


GROOVED    AXES.  275 

a  pointed  flint  was  used  to  peck  away  the  portions  of 
the  stone  sought  to  be  removed.  Traces  of  this  pro- 
cess are  clearly  perceptible,  although  after  it  was  com- 
pleted the  axe  was  polished  with  no  little  care.  This 
specimen  is  represented  by  Fig.  1,  Plate  X.,  and  was 
taken  from  a  tumulus  located  at  the  confluence  of  the 
Etowah  and  the  Oostenaula  Rivers. 

Between  this  axe  and  the  small  but  well-formed 
specimen  represented  in  Fig.  2,  Plate  X.,  weighing 
only  half  a  pound,  the  writer  has  in  his  collection 
more  than  fifty  grooved  axes,  taken  from  mounds  and 
relic-beds,  and  picked  up  in  the  fields  within  the  pres- 
ent limits  of  Georgia.  Although  of  different  shapes 
and  weights  they  belong  to  the  same  class.  A  few 
typical  forms  are  represented  in  the  accompanying 
plate.     (See  Figs.  3,  4,  5,  6  and  7,  Plate  X.) 

Of  axes  of  this  description  it  may  be  affirmed  that 
their  weights  vary  from  half  a  pound  to  nine  pounds. 
Occasionally  they  will  turn  the  scale  even  at  seventeen 
pounds.  In  length  they  differ  from  three  to  twelve  or 
fourteen  inches,  and  in  width  from  two  and  a  half  to 
nine  inches.  The  average  width  of  the  groove  is  about 
an  inch  and  a  quarter;  its  depth  from  a  quarter  to 
half  an  inch.  The  presence  of  the  transverse  furrow 
indicates  the  manner  in  which  these  axes  were  hafted. 
If  not  inserted  in  the  growing  tree  and  there  allowed 
to  remain  until  the  wood  had  closed  tightly  around 
the  groove,  a  strong  withe,  following  the  groove,  was 
bent  around  the  axe,  and  the  ends  brought  together 
beneath,  where  they  were  firmly  lashed  by  means 
of  deer-sinews  or  thongs  of  buckskin.  In  order  to 
make  the  implement  more  secure  in  the  handle,  thus 
formed,  it  will  be  observed  that  in  many  instances 
the  lower   or   inner   side   of  the   axe   was  carefully 


276  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

squared  or  slightly  hollowed  out  so  as  to  permit 
the  insertion  of  a  tightening  wedge.  (See  Figs.  4,  6, 
and  7,  Plate  X.)  In  most  cases  the  groove  is  near  the 
head  of  the  axe ;  occasionally,  however,  this  tranverse 
furrow  runs  across  the  central  portion,  thus  affording 
an  opportunity  for  a  double  edge.  Specimens  of 
this  latter  variety,  so  far  as  our  observation  extends, 
are  carelessly  made,  and  of  soft  material.  They  could 
have  been  used  for  little  else  than  offensive  pur- 
poses. 

We  have  already  been  assured  by  the  testimony 
of  early  observers  that  grooved  axes  were  extensively 
engaged  in  deadening  forest-trees,  so  as  to  clear  certain 
tracts  of  land  for  cultivation.  They  were  also  em- 
ployed in  removing  the  bark  and  bruising  the  outer 
fibres  near  the  roots  of  the  trees  so  that  the  fires  kin- 
dled around  them  might  the  more  readily  eat  into  the 
trunks  and  insure  their  early  fall.  It  is  well  known 
that  the  Indians  of  this  region,'  in  their  mechanical 
operations,  upon'  every  practicable  occasion  invoked 
the  agency  of  fire.  By  its  assistance  the  tree  selected 
for  the  future  canoe  was  felled,  then  burnt  off  at  the 
required  length,  and  finally  shaped  and  hollowed  out. 
In  plate  xii.  (Linterium  conjiciendorum  ratio)  of  the 
"  Admiranda  Narratio,"  l  we  have  a  lively  representa- 
tion of  the  entire  operation.  It  is  more  than  prob- 
able that  during  the  progress  of  such  labors  these 
implements,  with  suitable  handles,  proved  very  service- 
able in  removing  the  charred  surface  from  time  to  time 
so  as  to  afford  fresh  fuel  for  the  flame. 

An  examination  of  the  heads  of  these  axes  acquaints 
us  with  the  circumstance  that  many  of  them  are  bruised 
and  splintered,  which  indicates  that  they  were  used 

1  Francoforti  ad  Moenum.     De  Bry,  anno  1590. 


GROOVED    AXES. STOMj^ADZE.  277 

either  as  clubs  or  as  wedges  for  splitting  wood.  In 
the  latter  case — the  edge  being  placed  and  by  means 
of  the  handle  held  in  position — the  axe  was  driven 
into  the  wood  by  blows  struck  upon  its  head  with  a 
stone  or  wooden  maul.1 

These  heads  are  sometimes  rounded,  again  flat,  and 
at  other  times  wellnigh  pointed. 

We  incline  to  the  belief  that  the  smaller  and  me- 
dium-sized specimens  were  tomahawks  or  battle-axes. 
Cleverly  hafted  and  at  close  quarters  they  would,  in 
stalwart  hands,  constitute  a  formidable  offensive  weap- 
on, whether  the  blow  be  delivered  from  the  edge  or 
the  head. 

Many  of  these  axes  are  badly  worn,  thus  showing 
the  long-continued  use  to  which  they  were  subjected, 
and  advising  us  of  the  fact  that  their  edges  were 
time  and  again  reground  or  sharpened.  So  often 
.  have  some  of  them  been  sharpened,  that  nearly  the 
entire  blade  has  been  worn  away.  The  edge  wae  re- 
newed by  rubbing  it  upon  a  whetstone.  Several  of 
these  whetstones  are  in  the  writer's  collection,  deeply 
furrowed  and  hollowed  by  the  sharpening  of  these  im- 
plements. The  edges  of  these  axes  were  sharpened 
evenly  on  both  sides.2 

Near  akin  to  the  grooved  ax'e  is  the  stone  adze,  of 
which  Fig.  8,  Plate  X.,  may  be  taken  as  a  fair  example. 
Implements  of  this  sort  are  rare,  and  were  fashioned 
in  the  same  manner  and  of  similar  material  employed 
in  the  manufacture  of  the  grooved  axes  which  we  have 
been  considering.  The  specimen  before  us  is  made  of 
a  tough  diorite,  is  five  inches  and  a  (quarter  in  length, 

2  See  Xilsson's  "Stone  Age,"  third  edition,  p.  68.    London,  1868. 

2  For  forms  of  such  axes  found  in  other  portions  of  the  United  States,  see  ' 
"  Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  p.   217.    "  Archaeologia  Ameri- 
cana," vol.,  i.,  p.  233,  et  seq. 


278  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

two  inches  wide,  and  an  inch  and  a  quarter  in  thick- 
ness. It  has  been  subjected  to  considerable  use,  the 
cutting  edge  being  chipped  and  worn,  while  the  lower 
portion  of  the  flat  surface  retains  the  polish  derived 
from  long-continued  service. 

This  adze  may  have  been  hafted  to  a  wooden  han- 
dle, forming  with  the  implement  an  angle  more  or  less 
acute  at  the  pleasure  of  the  workman,  one  end  being 
bent  and  adjusted  to  the  flat  surface  opposite  the 
groove,  where  it  was  retained  in  proper  position  by 
deer-skin  thongs  or  ligaments  of  some  sort ;  or,  a  flexi- 
ble branch  or  withe  may  have  been  wound  round  the 
groove  and  the  two  ends  bound  together  so  as  tightly 
to  embrace  the  blade  after  the  fashion  generally  ob- 
served in  mounting  the  ordinary  grooved  axe.  The 
bent  handle,  we  think,  was  probably  adopted. 

II.  Hand  and  Wedge-shaped  Axes,  on  Stone 
Celts.1 — In  the  accompanying  Plate  XI.  are  figured 
six  varieties  of  this  class.  As  in  the  case  of  the 
grooved  axes,  so  with  those  we  propose  now  to  con- 
sider, greenstone  or  diorite  was  the  material  usually  se- 
lected for  their  manufacture.  A  few  chipped  flint  axes 
have  been  found.  The  largest  specimen  represented 
weighs  three  pounds  and  a  half,  is  ten  inches  and  a  half 
in  length,  and  three  inches  and  a  half  broad  at  the  cut- 
ting edge.  Its  symmetry  of  proportion  is  admirable. 
Some  of  these  axes  are  nearly  cylindrical,  and  resem- 
ble very  closely  the  variety  called  by  Mr.  Nilsson  the 
cross-axe  with  edge  ground  on  both  sides.  Others 
have  the  broad  sides  somewhat  convex,  and  the  nar- 
row sides  flat.  Some  have  blunt  heads  and  are  fan- 
shaped,   widening    very   much   at   the   cutting    end. 

1  Compare  Evans'  "Ancient  Stone  Implements,  etc.,  of  Great  Britain,"    chap, 
vi.     London,  1872. 


AM  PHO TO-LI THOGRAPHIC CO  ,VYI  OSBORHCS FffOCEVj 


POLISHED    STONE    CELTS.  279 

Others  still,  terminate  in  a  sharp  point  at  the  upper 
end,  as  though  the  intention  was  with  it  to  loosen  or 
break  up  the  material  worked  upon,  and  then,  with 
the  cutting  end,  to  remove  the  particles  and  smooth 
the  surface.  Such  a  tool  would  have  been  very  con- 
venient in  many  instances.  Particularly  valuable 
would  it  have  proved  for  dressing  the  interior  of  a 
wooden  canoe  hollowed  out  by  fire.  Within  the  old 
oak  canoe,  unearthed  in  1780,  at  St.  Enoch's  croft,  and 
near  the  prow,  lay  a  beautifully-finished  stone  axe 
very  similar  to  the  pointed  celt  we  have  figured  in 
the  accompanying  plate.  It  was  doubtless  one  of  the 
simple  implements  with  which  this  primitive  Clyde 
boat  had  been  fashioned.1  A  like  tool  was  equally 
effective  in  giving  shape  to  the  cypress  canoes  which 
in  ancient  times  navigated  the  yellow  waters  of  the 
Savannah  and  the  Alatamaha.  These  wedge-shaped 
axes  or  celts  differ  in  length  from  three  inches  to  a 
foot ;  are,  at  the  cutting  end,  from  two  to  four  inches 
broad,  and  in  weight  vary  from  half  a  pound  to  five 
pounds  and  upward.  The  heads  are  rounded,  square, 
flattened,  or  pointed.  The  cutting  edge  is  square, 
rounded,  or  semicircular.  In  all  cases,  so  far  as  our 
observation  extends,  the  edge  has  been  ground  from 
both  sides.  Occurring  frequently  in  many  portions  of 
the  Southern  States,  it  is  certain  that  their  use  was 
very  general  among  the  Indians.  The  larger  and  longer 
varieties  were  probably  managed  by  hand,  and  were 
not  hafted.  Those  of  smaller  size  may  have  been  in- 
serted in  wooden,  bone,  or  horn  handles,  although  even 
these  were  entirely  capable  of  manual  use  without 
such  aid.  The  absence  of  a  groove  and  the  elongated 
form  are  the  distinguishing  peculiarities  of  this  class. 

1  Wilson's  "Prehistoric  Man,"  p.  104.     London,  1865. 


2 SO  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

These  implements  are  much  better  adapted  to  incisive 
purposes  than  the  grooved  axes.  Their  edges  show 
continued  use,  and  frequent  sharpening.  Sometimes 
their  heads  afford  evidence  of  the  fact  that  they  had 
been  struck  with  a  stone  or  club  and  thus  driven  after 
the  fashion  of  a  wedge ;  but  usually,  and  especially  in 
the  case  of  the  longer  and  larger  varieties,  the  weight  of 
the  implement  and  the  strength  of  the  arm  sufficed 
for  the  accomplishment  of  the  #  prescribed  labor.  All 
of  them  were  first  chipped  or  pecked  into  shape,  and 
then  rendered  smooth  by  the  tedious  process  of  attri- 
tion. It  is  very  difficult  satisfactorily  to  discriminate 
between  some  varieties  of  these  wedge-shaped  axes 
and  some  forms  of  stone  chisels.  So  meagre  was  the 
supply  of  tools  in  the  possession  of  the  Indians,  and 
to  such  various  uses  were  the  same  implements  often 
and  necessarily  applied,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
subject  them  to  a  rigid  classification. 

Professor  Joseph  Jones  discovered  in  a  sepulchral 
mound  on  the  bank  of  the  Cumberland  River,  opposite 
the  city  of  Nashville,  Tennessee,  an  axe  of  this  class 
with  a  stone  handle. .  The  entire  implement  was  cut 
out  of  a  solid  piece  of  greenstone  (see  Plate  XII.). 
The  handle  is  thirteen  inches  and  a  half  in  length,  an 
inch  and  a  half  wide,  and  about  an  inch  thick.  At  the 
lower  end  is  a  hole  for  the  suspension  and  convenient' 
transportation  of  the  weapon  when  not  in  actual  use. 
The  axe  is  about  six  inches  long,  two  inches  and  a 
quarter  wide  at  the  cutting  edge,  and  an  inch  and  a 
half  broad  at  the  other  end.  It  is  three-quarters  of  an 
inch  thick,  and  in  general  appearance  resembles  many 
of  the  stone  celts  at  one  time  in  such  common  use 
among  the  Southern  Indians.  This  relic  possesses  spe- 
cial interest  and  value,  and  may  be  regarded  as  per- 


£    !  ' 

iiilOW  ffiila 


Le!kJ>J.^A>*k 


AM  PHOTO-LllHOQHAPHIC  CC  N  fl  OSBOf/KES  PPOCt  SS 


PERFORATED    AXES.  281 

petuating  the  manner  in  which  axes  of  this  class  were 
frequently  hafted  for  domestic  and  perhaps  warlike 
purposes. 

An  implement  precisely  similar  in  material  and 
construction  was  taken  from  a  grave-mound  in  York 
District,  South  Carolina,  about  ten  years  ago.  Relics 
of  this  description  are  very  rare,  and  were  fashioned  at 
the  expense  of  much  time  and  labor.  Both  of  them 
were  carefully  polished  in  every  part.  We  accept 
them,  not  only  as  curious  mementos  of  a  shadowy 
past,  but  as  enduring  proofs  of  the  peculiar  mode  in 
which  implements  of  this  class  were  mounted  and  car- 
ried by  these  primitive  peoples. 

It  Would  really  appear  that  the  ancient  workman, 
as  though  mindful  of  the  curiosity  which  would  exist 
in  the  minds  of  coming  generations  touching  the  cus- 
toms and  manufactures  of  an  a»;e  without  letters  or 
established  traditions,  designed  by  this  permanent 
legacy  to  remove  all  doubt,  and  bequeath  an  imper- 
ishable token  for  the  information  of  those  who  should 
come  after. 

The  thin  copper  axes  found  in  Nacoochee  Valley 
and  in  a  few  other  localities,  are  to  be  referred  to  the 
present  class.  They  were  inserted  in  a  split  handle, 
and  were  rather  objects  of  distinction  and  ornament 
than  serviceable  implements.  Having,  however,  in 
another  chapter  commented  upon  these  interesting 
relics  at  some  length,  we  need  here  do  no  more  than 
mention  their  existence. 

III.  Perforated  Axes  or  Hatchets.1 — It  is  a 
noteworthy  circumstance  that  these  implements  were 
generally  shaped  prior  to  their  perforation.     It  might 

1  Compare  Evans'  "  Ancient  Stone  Implements,  etc.,  of  Great  Britain,"  chap, 
viii.     London,  1872. 


2S2  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE   SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

very  well  be  supposed  that  the  workman,  anxious  to 
detect  any  concealed  defect  in  the  material  which  in 
the  end  might  render  useless  his  entire  labor,  would 
have  at  least  blocked  out  his  axe  before  he  entered 
upon  the  tedious  process  of  drilling ;  but  that  he  should 
not  only  have  fully  shaped,  but  in  some  instances  even 
polished  the  weapon  before  he  commenced  drilling  the 
hole  for  its  handle,  apjDears  singular.  Such,  neverthe- 
less, is  the  fact.  As  we  write,  the  physical  proofs  are 
before  us.  Of  several  specimens  now  on  the  desk,  one 
is  entirely  finished  and  polished,  but  lacks  the  handle- 
hole.  A  second  (Fig.  1,  Plate  XIIL),  pecked  into  the 
desired  shape,  but  not  yet  ground,  indicates  on  the 
nether  side  the  commencement  of  the  drilling  process. 
Upon  a  careful  examination  of  a  third,  it  will  be  per- 
ceived that  the  drill-hole  has  been  completed  only  one- 
half  the  required  distance.  A  core  or  nipple,  nearly  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  in  length,  appears  at  the  bottom 
(Fig.  2,  Plate  XIIL),  clearly  showing  that  a  hollow 
reed,  aided  by  sharp  sand  and  water,  was  the  instru- 
ment by  means  of  which  the  perforation  was  compassed. 

Many  of  these  ornamental  axes  are  pick-skaj^ed  and 
made  of  soft  material,  such  as  slate.  They  vary  in 
length  from  three  to  seven  inches.  The  perforations 
are  made  longitudinally  through  the  centre — the  points 
beins;  rounded  but  not  brought  to  a  cutting  ed^e. 
Fig.  3,  Plate  XIII.,  may  be  taken  as  a  typical  repre- 
sentation. 

The  blades  are  scarcely  more  than  three-eighths  of 
an  inch  in  thickness ;  and,  in  addition  to  the  handle- 
hole,  appears  a  lateral  perforation  as  though  for  the 
suspension  of  the  axe.  The  entire  length  is  rather 
more  than  six  inches,  and  the  width  of  the  blades  an 
inch  and  a  half.     Axes  of  this  shape  occur  frequently 


ria.leXJ/1. 


j     '1 

s  V/<t. 


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/Mf  PHOTOUTHCSftAPHIC  CO  H  Y  (  OSBOMeS  PROCESS) 


PEKFOKATED    AXES.  283 

in  the  relic-beds  along  the  banks  of  the  rivers  where 
the  natives  congregated  for  fishing  and  hunting.  Most 
of  them  are  broken.  Their  edges  are  not  sharp.  Fash- 
ioned principally  of  a  talcose  slate,  they  were  utterly 
unfit  for  service  and  must  be  regarded  as  ornamental 
or  ceremonial  axes.  They  vary  in  size  and  form,  most 
of  them  being  less  than  six  inches  in  length  and  very 
light.  Steatite  was  also  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
these  relics.1  In  a  grave-mound  in  Louisiana,  three 
beautiful  specimens  of  this  variety  of  ornamental  or 
ceremonial  hatchets  were  found  several  years  since. 
They  were  made  of  a  ferruginous  quartz.  Where  the 
two  blades  united,  these  implements  were  reenforced 
and  perforated.  There  was  also  a  lateral  perforation  in 
each  blade,  at  the  distance  of  about  three-quarters  of 
an  inch  from  the  central  perforation.  These  relics 
were  marvels  of  symmetry,  and  polished  in  the  high- 
est degree.  Their  edges  indicated  no  wear.  Evidently 
these  implements,  upon  whose  construction  such  great 
care  and  labor  had  been  bestowed,  were  not  intended 
for  incisive  purposes  but  were  designed  as  ornaments 
or  badges  of  distinction,  or  for  ceremonial  uses. 

Fig.  4,  Plate  XIIL,  closely  resembles  what  Mr. 
Nilsson 2  would  call  an  "  Amazon,  or  two-edged  axe." 
A  similarly-shaped  implement  is  represented  in  the 
"  Sword  of  Tiberius."  Zenophon  mentions  it  in  his 
"  Anabasis,"  and  Horace  in  one  of  his  Odes  speaks  of 
Amazonia  securis.3  The  specimen  before  us,  made  of 
a  tough,  close-grained  diorite,  beautifully  polished,  is 
four  inches  long,  an  inch  and  three-eighths  in  diam- 
eter  where  it   is  perforated,  and  an  inch  and  three- 

1  See  "  Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  pp.  218,  219.     Wash- 
ington, 1848. 

2  "  Stone  Age,"  p.  11,  plate  viii.,  fig.  173.    Loudon,  1868. 

3  "  Carminuni,"  liber  iv.,  4.  20. 


284  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

quarters  wide  at  the  edges.  The  handle-hole  ?s  four- 
tenths  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  This  axe  is  stout  and 
strong,  but  it  will  be  observed  that  while  the  imple- 
ment itself  is  capable  of  withstanding  the  shock  conse- 
quent upon  the  delivery  of  a  substantial  blow,  so  small 
is  the  perforation  that  no  handle,  other  than  one  of 
metal,  could  prove  at  all  lasting  or  serviceable.  We 
incline  to  the  belief  that  this  also  was  an  ornamental 
or  ceremonial  axe — intended  for  display,  and  not  for 
actual  use. 

We  notice  only  one  other  variety  (Fig.  5,  Plate 
XIIL),  made  of  syenite,  weighing  one  pound  eleven 
ounces,  four  inches  and  a  half  in  length,  two  inches 
and  three-quarters  in  width,  and  an  inch  and  three- 
quarters  thick  in  the  middle.  The  edges  of -this  stout 
weapon  are  slightly  convex,  and  five-eighths  of  an  inch 
thick,  the  sides  of  the  blades  gradually  approaching 
each  other  from  the  middle  toward  the  ends.  The 
perforation  for  the  handle  is  an  inch  and  a  quarter  in 
depth,  and  rather  more  than  half  an  inch  in  diameter. 
The  implement  appears  to  be  finished,  although  it  may 
be  questioned  whether  the  maker  did  not  intend,  if 
uninterrupted  in  his  labor,  to  continue  his  drilling 
until  the  axe  was  entirely  perforated.  The  bottom  of 
the  aperture  is  concave,  showing  that  a  solid  drill 
was  used.  Circular  striae  are  observable  the  entire 
depth  of  the  hole. 

After  a  careful  examination  of  a  large  number  of 
these  perforated  axes,  we  are  under  the  impression  that 
most  of  them  were  carried  as  matters  of  ceremony, 
ornament,  or  distinction;  and  it  may  be  that  the 
American  war-chief  suspended  from  his  belt  one  of 
these  delicate  implements,  and  regarded  it  with  emo- 
tions near  akin  to  those  which  possessed  the  breast  of 


HATCHETS    OF   EUROPEAN   MANUFACTUBE.  285 

the  Scandinavian  warrior  as  lie  cherished  and  displayed 
his  victory-stone. 

The  use  of  these  stone  axes  was  abandoned  very 
shortly  after  intercourse  was  established  bet  wen  the 
red-men  and  the  white  traders.  Even  in  Adair's  time 
such  implements  were  rarely  to  be  seen,  and  those 
which  had  escaped  interment  with  their  former  owners 
were  carefully  preserved  by  the  old  people  and  re- 
garded as  "  respectable  remains  of  antiquity."  1 

It  was  the  lamentation  of  the  old  chieftain  at 
Mucclasse,  that  the  white  man  had  not  sooner  come 
among  the  children  of  the  forest  to  teach  them  the  use 
of  letters,  and  furnish  them  with  the  iron  hatchet,  the 
knife,  the  hoe,  and  the  gun. 

Eagerly  did  the  Indians  bargain  for  metallic  imple- 
ments ;  and  the  European  manufacturers,  pandering  to 
the  savage  taste,  fashioned  the  axes  and  hatchets  in- 
tended for  the  American  market,  of  those  peculiar  and 
often  complex  types  with  which  the  red-men  of  the 
last  two  centuries  have  been,  in  the  popular  esteem,  so 
inseparably  associated.  "The  warlike  arms  used  by 
the  Cherokees,"  says  Lieutenant  Timberlake 2  (writing 
in  1761),  "are  guns,  bows  and  arrows,  darts,  scalping- 
knives,  and  tommahawkes,  which  are  hatchets;  the 
hammer-part  of  which  being  made  hollow,  and  a  small 
hole  running  from  thence  along  the  shank,  terminated 
by  a  small  brass-tube  for  the  mouth,  makes  a  compleat 
pipe.  There  are  various  ways  of  making  these,  accord- 
ing to  the  country  or  fancy  of  the  purchaser,  being  all 
made  by  the  Europeans ;  some  have  a  long  sjoear  at 
top,  and  some  different  conveniencies  on  each  side. 
This  is  one  of  their  most  useful  pieces  of  field-furniture, 

1  "  History  of  the  American  Indians,"  p.  405.     London,  1775. 
a  "  Memoirs,"  etc.,  pp.  51,  52.     London,  1765. 


286  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

serving  all  the  offices  of  hatchet,  pipe  and  sword ; 
neither  are  the  Indians  less  expert  at  throwing  it 
than  using  it  near,  but  will  kill  at  a  considerable 
distance." 

Chisels. — So  uncertain  is  the  boundary-line  which 
separates  the  wedge-shaped  axe  or  stone  celt  from  the 
chisel,  that  we  are  often  at  a  loss  to  determine  the  class 
to  which  certain  specimens  should  properly  be  assigned. 
The  truth  is,  remembering  the  poverty  of  their  owners 
and  the  various  expedients  to  which  they  were  neces- 
sarily compelled  to  resort  in  conducting  their  mechanical 
operations,  we  cannot  seriously  err  when  we  say  that 
some  tools  were  used  indiscriminately  as  wedges,  hand- 
axes,  and  chisels.  Of  the  true  character  and  design  of 
some  of  them,  however,  we  may  speak  wuth  at  least 
some  degree  of  confidence. 

Numbers  1,  2,  3,  and  4,  Plate  XIV., maybe  regard- 
ed as  typical  specimens  of  the  ordinary  chisels.  They 
are  all  made  of  greenstone,  carefully  polished.  Num- 
bers 2  and  4  were,  in  all  likelihood,  hafted  in  sockets 
of  wood,  stag's-horn,  or  bone,  in  like  manner  as  those, 
of  not  dissimilar  shape,  which  have  been  found  in  the 
curious  and  most  interesting  lake-dwellings  of  Switzer- 
land and  other  parts  of  Europe.  Others  wanted  han- 
dles, and  their  heads  give  ample  evidence  of  the  fact 
that  they  were  driven  by  means  of  a  small  wooden  or 
stone  maul.  These  implements  are  generally  thin, 
varying  in  length  from,  two  and  a  half  to  eight  inches, 
and  in  width  from  one  to  three  inches.  They  are 
ground  from  both  sides,  to  form  the  cutting  edge.  In 
various  relic-beds  and  shell-heaps  which  I  have  ex- 
amined (e.  g.,  those  on  th,e  banks  of  the  Savannah 
River,  especially  in  Columbia  and  Richmond  Counties, 
and  on  the  islands  and  headlands  along  the  coast),  I 


riatcJUF. 


AM  PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHIC  CO  N  >  ,  OSBOfNti  ."ffJC'Wi 


CHISELS    AND    GOUGES.  2S7 

have  found  the  larger  bones  of  the  deer,  the  bear,  and 
the  buffalo,  fractured  longitudinally  and  split  open. 
The  caves  of  France  and  Spain  afford  proof  that  the 
bones  of  animals  were  there  split  and  crushed  by  the 
primitive  peoples  in  order  to  extract  marrow  from 
them.  The  Laplanders,  the  Esquimaux,  the  Austra- 
lians and  other  savage  nations  have  been  doing  the 
same  thing  '  within  the  historic  period ;  and  it  is  not 
improbable  that  in  splitting  bones  for  this  purpose, 
these  chisels  were  in  part  used  by  the  Southern  In- 
dians. Some  of  these  implements  are  square,  with  flat 
sides  ;  others  are  cylindrical,  with  the  sides  somewhat 
convex ;  others  still,  being  quite  thin,  are  brought  to  a 
cutting  edge,  both  at  the  end,  and  for  a  considerable 
distance  on  either  side.  Those  made  of  flint  were  first 
chipped  and  then  ground.  The  greenstone  specimens 
are  carefully  polished  in  every  part. 

The  gouge  differs  from  the  chisel  in  that  it  is 
usually  larger  and  stronger,  and  by  having  one  side  of 
the  lower  end  scooj>ed  out  and  the  other  rounded,  so 
as  to  present  a  curvilinear  edge.  I  have  seen  no  relics 
of  the  Southern  Indians  resembling  the  delicate  flint 
hollow  chisels  described  by  Mr.  Nilsson  and  other 
European  archaeologists.  Numbers  5,  6,  and  7,  Plate 
XIV.,  represent  the  prevailing  types.  They  are  gen- 
erally from  four  to  nine  inches  in  length,  and  from  one 
to  four  inches  wide.  The  principal  labor  in  they.*  con- 
struction was  expended  upon  the  lower  end  and  in 
forming  a  symmetrical  edge.  Where  the  implement 
was  grasped  with  the  hand  or  hafted,  less  care  was  be- 
stowed upon  its  polish.  The  upper  end  almost  always 
has  been  splintered  or  broken  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent  by  blows.     Some  of  the  smaller  specimens  may 

1  Sir  John  Lubblock,  "  Pre-historic  Times,"  pp.  311,  316,  428.     Loudon,  18C9. 


28S  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE   SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

have  been  hafted,  "but  the  larger  were  evidently  in- 
tended for  hand-use.  Some  of  these  tools  were  fash- 
ioned with  a  protuberance  or  elevation  on  the  bach — 
distant  from  the  cutting  edge  about  a  third  the  length 
of  the  implement — by  means  of  which  a  considerable 
leverage  was  gained  by  simply  inserting  the  lower  end 
in  the  material  to  be  removed  and  then  pressing  down- 
ward with  the  upper  end  or  handle.  (See  Fig.  5, 
Plate  XIV.)  Diorite  was  the  chief  stone  from  which 
these  gouges  were  made.  Comparatively  few  speci- 
mens occur,  and  they  do  not  seem  to  have  passed  into 
very  general  use  among  the  Southern  tribes,  or  at 
least  such  of  them  as  inhabited  the  region  to  which 
our  attention  has  been  chiefly  directed. 

Bone-gouges  are  more  frequently  met  with.  They 
are  made  of  the  leg-bones  of  deer  and  buffaloes  (Fig.  8, 
Plate  XIV.). 

Sceapeks. — The  sjwon-shaped  scraper  of  France"  and 
Switzerland  is  more  pronounced  in  form  and  purpose 
than  any  implement  of  like  character  it  has  been  my 
good  fortune  to  find  among  the  relics  of  the  Southern 
tribes.1  With  them,  however,  scrapers  were  exten- 
sively used,  but  commonly  in  the  shape  of  substantial 
flint  flakes,  struck  off  by  a  single  blow,  and  with  the 
wider  end  chipped  to  a  square  or  rounded  cutting  edge. 
We  see  also  leaf-shaped  or  triangular  implements,  thick 
in  the  middle — their  edges  chipped  until  they  were 
sharp — which  were  capable  of  serving  the  double  use 
of  knife  and  scraper. 

The  Esquimaux  scraper  figured  by  Sir  John  Lub- 
bock, on  page  93  of  his  "  Pre-historic  Times,"  is  the 
counterpart  of  more  than  one  specimen  found  in  the 

1  Compare  also  the  scrapers  figured  by  Mr.  Evans,  in  his  elaborate  work  upon 
the  "Ancient  Stone  Implements,  etc.,  of  Great  Britain,"  chapter  xiii.  London, 
1812. 


SCEAPEES.  289 

shell-heaps  on  the  banks  of  the  Savannah  River.  For 
the  removal  of  hair  from  hides,  and  in  sundry  ways,  such 
tools  would  have  proved  very  serviceable  to  the  primi- 
tive workmen.       Shell  scrapers  were  also  employed. 

Sometimes  when  a  stout  arrow  or  spear  head  had 
lost  its  point,  it  was  repaired  and  subjected  to  a  sec- 
ondary use  Avhich  entitled  it  to  be  classed  among  scrap- 
ers. Fig.  11,  Plate  XIV.,  is  an  illustration  of  this.  At 
the  point  of  fracture  it  has  been  nicely  chipped  to  a 
cutting  edge.  In  the  present  instance  this  edge  is 
semicircular,  but  the  writer  has  several  in  his  collec- 
tion whose  cutting  edges  are  square.  This  scraper  is 
an  inch  and  a  quarter  wide,  and  was  made  of  a  beauti- 
ful variegated  jasper.  Professor  Rau  has  an  implement 
of  this  sortf  which  shows  most  clearly  on  its  edge  the 
polish  caused  by  the  continued  use  to  which  it  had 
been  subjected. 

By  far  the  most  elaborate  scraper  I  have  seen  in 
this  region,  is  that  represented  by  Fig.  14,  Plate  XIV. 
It  consists  of  a  close-grained  dark  diorite,  and  was 
taken  from  a  burial-mound  in  the  Etowah  Valley. 
An  implement  precisely  similar  in  shape,  and  some- 
what larger,  was  unearthed  in  the  same  valley,  in  1870, 
near  the  confluence  of  the  Etowah  and  Oostenaula 
Rivers.  The  specimen  before  us  is  five  inches  and  a 
quarter  in  length,  four  inches  and  a  half  in  width,  and 
half  an  inch  thick. 

The  £>erforation  is  nearly  half  an  inch  in  diameter, 
and  was  compassed  by  drilling  from  both  sides.  The 
cutting  edge  extends  from  one  shoulder  all  the  way 
round  to  the  other.  The  handle  is  flat  and  its  sides 
are  square.  At  the  nether  portion  the  edge  has  been 
much  worn  by  continual  use.  The  entire  implement 
is  well  polished. 


290  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEKN    INDIANS. 

An  implement  of  similar  shape  has  been  represented 
and  classed  by  Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis  among  orna- 
mental axes.1  With  due  deference  to  the  opinion 
of  those  gentlemen,  we  feel  constrained  to  differ  from 
them  in  this  suggestion.  Had  this  been  an  ornamental 
axe,  suspended  for  the  purposes  of  display,  there  would 
have  been  no  marked  abrasion  of  the  edo-e.  As  it  is, 
the  proofs  of  long-continued  use  are  evident  all  along 
the  lower  portion  of  the  edge  and  for  fully  two-thirds 
of  the  way  up,  on  either  hand,  toward  the  shoulders. 
We  incline  to  the  belief  that  it  was  a  scraper,  and  that 
the  hole  drilled  through  the  lower  part  of  the  handle 
was  intended  to  admit  the  insertion  of  a  buckskin 
thong  by  means  of  which  the  implement,  when  grasped, 
could  have  been  fastened  around  the  wrist  or  the  back 
of  the  hand,  and  thus  the  steady  and  forcible  use  of 
the  tool  greatly  facilitated.  Thus  employed  it  would 
have  proved  of  great  value  in  dressing  skins  and  for 
different  purposes  to  which  a  large  scraper  could  have 
been  applied.  Figs.  9,  10,  12,  and  13,  Plate  XIV., 
represent  other  forms  of  scrapers  manufactured  by  the 
primitive  peoples  of  this  region. 

Flint  Knives. — Closely  allied  to  the  scraper,  and 
of  such  construction  that  they  might  very  readily  have 
been  used  both  as  knives  and  scrapers,  are  numerous 
leaf-shaped  implements  of  which  Figs.  1,  3,  6,  8,  and 
9,  Plate  XV.,  may  be  regarded  as  typical.  These  are 
thin,  being  chipped  from  the  middle  toward  the  sides 
where  they  are  brought,  all  around,  to  a  cutting  edge. 
They  vary  in  length  from  one  to  six  inches,  and  in 
width  from  half  an  inch  to  three  inches  and  a  half. 
Some  of  them  terminate  in  points  so  acute  that  they 
resemble  piercers. 

1  "Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  page  218,  Fig.  114,  No.  6.  • 
Washington,  1848. 


Plate  IF. 


1     ! 

J 


v 


/f/W  PHOTOUTHOQRAPMCCO  flYi  OSBORNES  PROCESS'* 


FLINT   KNIVES. AWLS. BORERS.  291 

Although  the  forms  of  flint  knives  in  use  among 
the  primitive  peoples  of  this  region  are  various  and 
often  exceedingly  rude,  numbers  1  to  9,  Plate  XV., 
may  he  considered  the  pre  vailing  types.1  The  great 
anxiety  of  the  Indian  was  to  obtain  a  cutting  edge. 
This  secured,  he  often  expended  but  little  labor  upon 
the  rest  of  the  implement.  Consequently,  we  meet 
with  many  semilunar  knives  whose  backs  are  thick 
and  square  and  carelessly  chipped.  Such  were  designed 
to  be  held  in  the  hand.  The  backs  of  others  are  thin, 
and  these  were  probably  hafted  in  longitudinal  han- 
dles of  bone  or  wood.  Other  knives  are  almost  razor- 
shaped  ;  and  others  still — elongated  in  form  and  with 
a  square  cutting  edge — required,  for  convenient  use, 
that  the  upper  end  should  be  inserted  in  a  handle. 
Some  of  the  larger  leaf-shaped  implements  are  so  much 
elongated  that  it  is  difficult  satisfactorily  to  determine 
whether  they  were  intended  as  spear-heads  or  as  in- 
cisive tools.  In  plate  xv.  of  the  "  Brevis  Narratio," 
De  Bry  furnishes  a  frightful  illustration  of  the  enor- 
mities perpetrated  upon  the  bodies  of  their  slain  ene- 
mies by  the  Florida  Indians  by  means  of  arrows,  clubs, 
and  cane  knives  (arundlnis  fragmentis),  but  he  no- 
where, so  far  as  we  now  remember,  figures  a  single 
flint  implement  which  could  be  called  a  knife. 

Awls,  or  Borers. — We  are  informed  in  the  early 
Spanish  narratives  that  the  Southern  Indians,  with 
heated  copper  spindles,  perforated  pearls  so  that  they 
might  be  strung  and  worn  as  ornaments.  That  this 
was  not  the  only  kind  of  piercing  implement  fashioned 
by  the  natives,  is  evidenced  by  the  presence  of  flint 
awls  or  borers,  four  forms  of  which  are  here  figured 

1  Compare  Evans'  "Ancient  Stone  Monuments,  etc.,  of  Great  Britain,"  chap 
ter  xv.     London,  1872. 


ti92  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

(see  Figs.  2,  3,  4,  and  5,  Plate  XVI.).  Number  5  may 
have  answered  the  double  purpose  o'f  awl  and  scraper.1 
The  point,  as  well  as  the  square  edge  at  the  opposite 
end,  exhibits  that  peculiar  polish  which  is  born  only 
of  prolonged  use  and  attrition. 

Ordinary  piercing  implements  were  also  formed 
from  bone,  and  of  these  number  1,  Plate  XVI.,  is  an 
excellent  example.  It  is  made  of  a  deer's  tibia,  and  is 
seven  inches  and  a  half  in  length.  The  scars  left  upon 
its  surface  by  the  flint  implement  employed  in  shaping 
and  polishing  it,  are  still  very  perceptible.  Sharp- 
pointed  fish-bones  were  also  extensively  used,  and 
these  are  often  found  in  the  shell-heaps  and  relic-beds 
both  on  the  coast  and  along  the  banks  of  fresh-water 
rivers.     Flint  saws  are  not  infrequent. 

Before  concluding  this  brief  notice  of  the  cutting 
and  piercing  implements  of  the  Southern  Indians,  it 
is  proper  to  notice  a  class  of  tools — similar  in  general 
features  to  the  ordinary  hand-axes — made  sometimes 
of  slate,  at  other  times  of  a  hornblendic  stone,  again 
of  diorite,  and  rarely  of  flint,  whose  edges  are  blunt 
and  rounded,  or  square.  They  were,  to  all  appear- 
ances, designed  as  smoothing  or  polishing  stones  (see 
Figs.  6,  7,  and  8,  Plate  XVI.),  and  may  have  been 
used  in  dressing  skins.  Their  edges  are  all  worn 
very  smooth  from  constant  attrition.  The  implement 
represented  in  Fig.  9,  Plate  XVI.,  typifies  a  large 
class,  examples  of  which  abound  in  the  relic-beds  on 
the  Savannah  River.  Then  use  is  not  well  ascertained, 
but  their  flat  surfaces  are  very  smooth  as  though  they 
had  been  constantly  employed  in  rubbing.     There  are 

1  The  similarity  between  this  implement  and  that  figured  by  Mr.  Evans  on  page 
289  of  his  "Ancient  Stone  Implements,  etc.,  of  Great  Britain"  (London,  1872), 
is  very  striking. 


FlaZe  717. 


AM  PHOTO  LITHOGRAPHIC  CO  N  Y  i  OSBOHSES  PROCFS: 


DKIFT    IMPLEMENTS.  293 

also  stout  triangular-shaped  flint  articles,  which  may  be 
regarded  as  primitive  axes,  as  unfinished  spear-heads, 
or  as  scrapers.  This  matter  of  classification  is,  to  a 
considerable  extent,  arbitrary ;  and  while  in  most  in- 
stances we  have  no  hesitancy  in  determining  the  uses 
and  characters  of  various  relics,  we  not  infrequently 
encounter  specimens  concerning  whose  specific  employ- 
ment and  accurate  archaeological  arrangement  anything 
more  than  a  suggestion  appears  unjustifiable. 

The  implements  we  have  been  examining,  were  ob- 
tained from  mounds,  shell-heaps  and  relic-beds,  gath- 
ered upon  the  sites  of  ancient  villages  and  fishing- 
resorts,  or  ploughed  up  in  cultivated  fields.  Before 
bringing  the  present  chapter  to  a  close,  we  desire  to 
allude  to  some  rudely-chipped,  triangular-shaped  imple-* 
ments  found  in  Nacoochee  Valley  under  circumstances 
which  seemingly  assign  to  them  a  very  remote  anti- 
quity. In  material,  manner  of  construction,  and  in 
general  appearance,  so  nearly  do  they  resemble  some 
of  the  rough,  so-called  flint  hatchets  belonging  to  the 
drift  type,  as  described  by  M.  Boucher  de  Perthes, 
that  they  might  very  readily  be  mistaken  the  one  for 
the  other. 

Through  this  valley  flows  the  Chattahoochee.  The 
region  being  auriferous,  the  attention  of  the  early  set- 
tlers was  soon  attracted  to  an  examination  of  the  bed 
of  this  stream.  Particles  of  gold  were  found  inter- 
mixed with  the  sand  and  pebbles  which  lay  at  the 
bottom.  In  order  to  facilitate  mining  operations, 
canals  were  cut,  sometimes  deflecting  the  current  from 
its  channel,  and  at  other  times  branching  off  from  the 
river  so  as  to  unearth  the  precious  metal  which  had 
gravitated  out  of  sight.  These  sections  passed  through 
the  soil  and  the  underlying  drift  composed  of  sand, 


294  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN  INDIANS. 

gravel,  and  bowlders,  and  reached  down  to  the  hard 
slate-rock  below.  During  one  of  these  excavations, 
at  a  depth  of  some  nine  feet  below  the  surface,  inter- 
mingled with  the  gravel  and  bowlders  of  the  drift  and 
just  above  the  rocky  substratum  upon  which  the  de- 
posit rested,  were  found  three  flint  implements,  simi- 
lar in  shape,  one  of  which  is  here  figured  (Fig.  10, 
Plate  XVI.).  It  is  three  inches  and  a  quarter  in  length, 
and  two  inches  and  an  eighth  in  width.  It  is  said  that 
articles  of  a  like  character  have  been  discovered  in  the 
drift  along  the  line  of  Duke's  Creek,  but  they  have  not 
passed  under  the  writer's  observation.  In  this  drift, 
so  far  as  my  knowledge  extends,  no  human  bones  have 
as  yet  been  found.  Prominent  earth-mounds,  stone 
graves,  and  frequent  relics  attest  the  fact  that  this 
valley  was  for  a  long  period  thickly  populated  by  the 
red  race.  These  indications  of  a  former  occupancy  are 
chiefly  confined,  however,  to  the  surface,  or  its  vicinity. 
When  the  white  men  possessed  themselves  of  this 
beautiful  region,  these  mounds  were  covered  with 
trees,  to  all  appearances  as  vigorous  and  as  old  as 
those  which  composed  the  adjacent  forests.  Indian 
inhumations  outside  of  the  tumuli  are  shallow.  Spear 
and  arrow  heads,  stone  mortars,  pipes,  beads,  discoidal 
stones,  axes,  and  various  relics  indicating  use  and  orna- 
ment, are  confined  to  the  mounds,  graves,  and  the  sur- 
face of  the  valley.  Such  do  not  obtain  in  the  drift. 
I  am  not  in  possession  of  data  suflicient  to  warrant  the 
expression  of  an  opinion  touching  the  age  of  Nacoochee 
Valley  as  at  present  constituted.  That  it  has  under- 
gone no  material  change  for  centuries,  is  demonstrated 
by  the  presence  of  these  large  earth-mounds  and  the 
big  forest-trees  which  grew  upon  them  after  they  were 
neglected  or  abandoned  by  those  who  erected  them. 


DEIFT   IMPLEMENTS.  295 

The  Chattahoochee  has  been  pursuing  its  present  course 
through  this  charming  valley  for  lo  !  these  many,  many 
years,  and  there  are  no  indications  of  any  violent  and 
sudden  mutations  which  would  have  modified  the  period 
requisite  for  the  gradual  formation  of  the  soil  and  sur- 
face of  this  valley.  That  the  implements  in  question 
were  brought  down  with  and  deposited  in  the  drift 
when  as  yet  there  was  little  or  no  vegetable  life  in  the 
valley,  seems  highly  probable.  How  many  centuries 
have  looked  down  upon  the  gradual  accumulation  of  the 
soil  which  now  overlies  the  drift,  none  can  answer; 
but  of  one  thing  we  may  rest  satisfied,  that  these 
specimens  of  the  rude  labor  of  prehistoric  man  may 
well  claim  high  antiquity.  They  are  as  emphatically 
drift  inplements  as  any  which  have  appeared  in  the 
diluvial  matrix  of  France.  Thus,  in  Nacoochee,  while 
the  Neolithic  age  is  richly  represented,  the  Palaeolithic 
period  is  not  entirely  wanting  in  its  characteristic 
types. 

If  we  are  ignorant  of  the  time  when  the  Chatta- 
hoochee first  sought  a  highway  to  the  Gulf — if  we  know 
not  the  age  of  the  artificial  tumuli  which  still  grace 
its  banks — if  we  are  uncertain  when  the  red  nomads 
who  in  fear  and  wonder  carried  the  burdens  of  the 
adventurous  De  Soto  as  he  conducted  his  followers 
through  primeval  forests  and  by  the  side  of  this  softly- 
moving  stream,  first  became  dwellers  here — how  shall 
we  answer  when  questioned  as  to  the  age  in  which 
these  rude  drift  implements  were  fashioned  and  used 
by  the  primitive  peoples  ? 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Agriculture  and  Agricultural  Implements. — Ceremony  of  the  Busk. — Cultivation 
of  Maize. — Mortars  and  Pestles. — Crushing-Stones. — Nut-Stones. — Use  of 
Walnut  and  Hickory-uut  Oil. 

Although  in  the  mythology  of  the  red-men  of  the 
South  the  beneficent  Ceres,  who  first  taught  mortals 
how  to  turn  the  soil  with  a  plough,1  received  no  indi- 
vidual deification,  they  were  not  insensible  of  her  be- 
nignant influences,  ever  present  in  the  genial  warmth 
of  bright  skies,  engendering  fertility  in  the  soft  earth 
and  causing  to  spring  up  beneath  their  feet  a  beauti- 
ful plant  whose  fruit  proved  in  very  deed  a  "  staff  of 
life."  By  nothing  was  the  gradual  development  of  the 
semi-civilization  of  the  Muscogulges,  the  Creeks,  the 
a  Choctaws,  the  Cherokees,  and  other  Indian  tribes  more 
clearly  indicated  than  by  their  general  and  regular 
cultivation  of  the  maize,  an  American  plant,  whose 
value — recognized  by  these  aborigines  for  many  ante- 
cedent centuries  and  extensively  appreciated  at  the 
dawn  of  the  historic  period — has  ever  since  received 
ready  acknowledgment  wherever  introduced  to  the 
notice  of  civilized  man.  Regarded  as  a  direct  gift  from 
the  Author  of  Life  to  his  red  children,  it  was  highly 

1  "  Publii  Virgilii  Maronis  Georgica,"  lib.  i.,  v.  146.     Londoni,  apud  A.  Dulau 
&  Co.,  1800. 


CULTIVATION    OF   MAIZE.  297 

prized  and  held  in  peculiar  esteem.  To  make  light 
of,  or  waste  either  the  grain,  or  the  cob  from  which  it 
was  taken,  was- never  permitted.  Certain  ceremonies 
were  observed  in  the  spring  when  it  was  planted; 
and  of  all  their  rites  the  Busk — celebrated  just  be- 
fore they  garnered  the  ripe  ears  from  the  fields — was, 
*  perhaps,  the  most  solemn  and  imposing.  Of  the 
American  Indians  the  Southern  nations  were  the  most 
civilized  and  the  least  nomadic  in  their  habits.  En- 
joying a  mild  climate,  and  possessing  fruitful  and  well- 
watered  valleys,  they  located  permanent  seats,  were 
provident  of  the  future,  and  surrounded  themselves 
with  more  of  the  comforts  and  conveniences  of  life  than 
appertained  to  the  Northern  and  Western  hunter  tribes. 
Attached  to  the  soil,  often  building  considerable  towns 
fortified  by  palisades,  and  composed  of  huts  and  houses 
substantial  after  their  kind,  and  furnished  with  mats, 
benches,  and  various  aptly-made  domestic  utensils,  they 
lifted  themselves  at  least  somewhat  above  that  rude, 
beggarly,  and  precarious  existence  which  so  painfully 
characterized  the  condition  of  so  many  of  the  aborigi- 
nes inhabiting  other  portions  of  this  country,  oppressed 
by  greater  penury  and  contending  against  the  rigors  of 
more  tempestuous  seasons. 

The  territory  over  which  cultivation  by  the  natives 
extended,  is  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  Atlantic, 
on  the  south  by  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  on  the  west,  gen- 
erally by  the  Mississippi,  or  perhaps  more  properly 
by  the  prairies,  and  on  the  north  by  the  nature  of  the 
climate.1  The  population  of  those  regions  in  which  the 
soil  was  cultivated,  was  more  permanent  and  numer- 
ous than  that  of  localities  where  the  individuals  relied 


1  See  Mr.  Gallatin's  "  Synopsis  of  the  Indian  Tribes,"  "  Arclireologia  Ameri- 
cana," vol.  ii.,  p.  149. 


29S  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

for  their  subsistence  upon  the  natural  products  of  the 
earth  and  the  waters.  It  was  also  less  barbarous. 
The  most  cursory  examination  of  the  early  accounts 
will  advise  us  of  the  fact  that  maize  was  extensively 
cultivated  by,  and  formed  a  standard  article  of  food 
anions;  the  Southern  Indians.  The  English  at  James- 
town  were,  at  times,  almost  wholly  sustained  by  the 
liberality  of  the  natives ;  and  Captain  John  Smith,  in 
recounting  the  friendship  of  Pocahontas,  mentions  the 
circumstance  that  she  in  person  accompanied  from  the 
Indian  fields  the  '( conductas ''  of  grain  which  relieved 
the  wants  of  the  colonists.  Both  Cabeca  de  Vaca '  and 
Captain  Kibault2  found  it  growing  freely  in  Florida. 
From  Tampa  Bay,  De  Soto  addressed  a  letter  to 
the  Justice  and  Board  of  Magistrates  in  Santiago  de 
Cuba,  informing  them  that  Baltazar  de  Gallegos, 
whom,  with  eighty  lancers  and  a  hundred  foot-soldiers, 
he  sent  to  reconnoitre  the  country,  had  seen  "  fields  of 
maize,  beans,  and  pumpkins,  with  other  fruits  and  pro- 
visions, in  such  quantity  as  would  suffice  to  subsist  a 
very  large  army  without  its  knowing  a  want." 3  On  one 
occasion  his  army  marched  for  two  leagues  through 
continuous  fields  of  corn.  During  the  progress  of  the 
expedition  the  Spanish  soldiers  subsisted  almost  ex- 
clusively upon  food  furnished  by  the  natives.  The 
maize,  stored  in  granaries  and  standing  in  cultivated 
fields,  furnished  bread  for  the  troops,  while  the  blades 
of  the  corn  proved  excellent  forage  for  the  horses. 

While  passing  through  the  pine-barren  regions, 
where  the  soil  was  poor  and  the  population  scant, 
bitterly  did  the  Christians  complain  of  the  hardships 

J  "  Relation,"  etc.,  translated  by  Buckingham  Smith,  p.  35.     New  York,  18*71. 

2  "The  Whole  and  True  Discoverye  of  Terra  Florida."     London,  1563. 

3  "  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto,"  translated  by  Bucking- 
ham Smith,  p.  285.     New  York,  1866. 


CULTIVATION    OF   MAIZE.  299 

there  encountered.  Often  were  they  sorely  pressed  to 
escape  starvation.  Ample  fields  and  Louses  filled,  with 
corn  were  frequently  met  farther  on,  and.  there  heavy 
were  the  contributions  levied,  and  numerous  the  cap- 
tives made  who  were  compelled,  even  in  chains,  to 
accompany  the  conquerors  and  bear  weighty  burdens 
of  maize  and.  mortars  in  which  to  prepare  it  for  cook- 
ing. It  would  appear  from  the  early  narratives  that 
the  principal  towns  and  maize-fields  of  the  natives 
were  located  in  rich  valleys  where  a  generous  soil 
yielded  with  least  labor  the  most  remunerative  har- 

^  vest.  While  beans,  pumpkins,  dried  plums,  grapes, 
persimmons,  mulberries,  nuts,  and  other  spontaneous 
products  of  the  earth,  were  freely  used,  it  is  quite  cer- 
tain that  the  Southern  Indians  relied  chiefly  upon  their 
crops  of  corn.  Upon  its  cultivation  general  and  sys- 
tematic attention  was  bestowed.  In  a  former  chapter 
we  have  seen  that  the  grooved  axe  was  extensively 
employed  in  girdling  trees  so  as  to  deprive  them  of 
life,  and  thus,  in  the  end,  cause  the  forest-growth  to 
disappear  from  the  spots  which  had  been  selected  for 
cultivation.  Indian  fields  in  which  not  even  the  trace 
of  a  stump  or  root  could  be  perceived  were  frequently 

j  observed  by  the  first  European  settlers.  For  the  loca- 
tion of  such  fields  the  richest  spots  adjacent  to  the 
villages  were  selected.  These  were  planted  in  com- 
mon— no  fences,1  in  the  olden  time,  indicating  the 
bounds  of  individual  labor,  or  private  storehouses 
the  fruits  of  personal  toil.  The  soil  was  the  property 
of  all — and  each,  sharing  in  the  general  toil,  partici- 
pated in  the  common  harvest.  "  About  their  houses," 
says  Captain  Bibault,  "they  labor  and  till  the  ground, 
sowing  their  fields  with  a  grain  called  3IaJiis,  whereof 

1  See Brickell's  "Natural  History  of  North  Carolina,"  p.  344.     Dublin,  1737. 


300  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

tliey  niake  their  meal,  and  in  their  gardens  they  plant 
beans,  gourds,  cucumbers,  citrons,  peas,  and  many  other 
fruits  and  roots  unknown  to  us.  Their  spades  and 
mattocks  be  made  of  wood,  so  well  and  fitly  as  is  j)os- 
sible,  which  they  make  with  certain  stones,  oyster- 
shells  and  muscles,  wherewith  also  they  make  their 
bows  and  small  lances,  and  cut  and  polish  all  sorts  of 
wood  that  they  employ  about  their  buildings  and  ne- 
cessary use." * 

The  Gentleman  of  Elvas a  intimates  that  each  In- 
dian had  his  own  field  which  he  planted  and  harvested 
for  his  individual  account.  The  natural  fruits,  he  con- 
tinues, were  common  for  all.  In  some  parts  of  the 
territory  traversed  by  Cabeca  de  Vaca 3  three  crops  of 
maize  and  beans  were  raised  during  the  year.  A 
Natchez  chief,  among  other  things,  offered  M.  Le  Page 
Du  Pratz  4  twenty  barrels  of  maize  in  exchange  for  a 
sun-glass. 

We  are  informed  by  Adair  5  that  while  the  gar- 
dens contiguous  to  the  houses  were  fenced  in,  the  large 
fields  were,  in  this  regard,  quite  unprotected.  In  plate 
xxi.  of  the  "  Brevis  Narratio,"  six  Indians  are  seen 
busily  engaged  in  preparing  the  ground  and  in  plant- 
ing corn.  No  fences  or  enclosures  of  any  sort  are  rep- 
resented.    It  would  appear  from  the  explanatory  note 6 


1  "The  Whole  and  True  Discoverye  of  Terra  Florida."     London,  1563. 
,  2  "  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de   Soto,"  translated  by  Bucking- 
ham Smith,  p.  201.     New  York,  1866. 

3  "  Relation,"  etc.,  translated  by  Buckingham  Smith,  p.  172.      New  York,  1871. 

4  "History  of  Louisiana,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  183.     London,  1763. 

5  "  History  of  the  American  Indians,"  p.  406.     London,  1775. 

s  "  Diligenter  colunt  terrain  Indi,  earn  ob  causam  ligoues  e  piscium  ossibus  pa- 
rare  norunt  viri,  quibus  manubria  lignea  aptantes,  terram  fodiunt  satis  facile,  nam 
mollior  est :  ea  deinde  probe  confracta  &  aequata,  feminse  fabas  &  milium  sive 
Mayzum  serunt,  praeeuntibus  nonnullis,  quae  defixo  in  terram  baculo  foramina  faci- 
unt,  inquae  fabae  &  milij  grana  inijciantur.    Facta  semente,  agros  relinquunt,"  etc. 


AGEICULTUExVL    IMPLEMENTS.  301 

that  the  Indians  diligently  cultivated  the  soil,  using 
for  this  purpose  fish-bones  attached  to  wooden  handles. 
AVith  these  agricultural  implements  the  men  broke  up 
and  made  even  the  surface  of  the  ground.  Following 
after  them  came  the  women  who,  with  the  aid  of 
sticks,  made  holes  in  the  newly-prepared  and  soft  earth, 
into  which  beans  and  grains  of  corn,  carried  for  that 
purpose  in  small  baskets,  were  dropped.  The  plant- 
ing being  over,  the  seed  was  left  to  fructify — but  little 
attention  being  bestowed  upon  the  growing  crop.1 

No  specimens  of  these  bone  agricultural  imple- 
ments or  of  the  wooden  spades  and  mattocks  2  men- 
tioned by  Captain  Ribault  have  passed  under  our  ob- 
servation. These,  as  well  as  the  scapulas  of  the  deer 
and  the  buffalo,  which  were  used  for  a  similar  purpose, 
have  crumbled  into  dust.  Occasionally,  however,  we 
meet  with  stone  hoes,  of  which  Fig.  1,  Plate  XVII., 
may  be  regarded  as  typical.  This  relic  is  made  of 
greenstone.  It  is  five  inches  and  a  quarter  in  length, 
and  nearly  two  inches  and  three-quarters  in  width. 
For  a  distance  of  more  than  two  inches  and  a  half 
from  the  edge  it  exhibits  on  both  sides  that  delicate 
polish  which  is  engendered  only  by  constant  attrition 
and  long-continued  use.  The  groove  afforded  the 
means  of  lashing  it  securely  to  a  handle  whose  end 
was  doubtless  bent  for  that  purpose,  so  that  the  blade 
should  remain  at  right  angles  to  it.  It  will  be  ob- 
served that  this  implement  is  slightly  curved,  and  has 
very  much  the  appearance  of  the  half  of  a  grooved 
axe  split  in  twain  longitudinally.     It  is,  nevertheless, 

1  Compare  "  A  Briefe  and  True  Report  of  the  New-found  Land  of  Virginia," 
etc.,  "made  in  English  by  Thomas  Hariot,"  etc.,  pp.  14,  15.  Francoforti  ad 
Mffnum.    De  Bry,  anno  1590. 

a  See  also  Brickell's  "  Natural  History  of  North  Carolina,"  p.  326.  Dublin,  1737. 
Bospu's  "  Travels  through  Louisiana,"  etc.,  vol.  i.,  p.  224.  London,  1771.  Los- 
kiel's  "History,"  etc.,  p.  68.     London,  1794. 


302  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

a  complete  and  well-formed  hoe.  Remembering  the 
shallow  manner  in  which  the  natives  cultivated  the 
soil,  we  can  readily  "believe  that  it  would  have  abun- 
dantly answered  the  purpose  for  which  we  suppose  it 
to  have  been  designed.  Fig.  2,  Plate  XVII.,  represents 
a  spade  made  of  greenstone  which  was  found  by  Prof. 
Joseph  Jones  in  a  Tennessee  grave-mound.  Were 
the  handle  shorter,  it  might  be  classed  as  a  scraper  or 
smoothing-stone.  This  implement  is  beautifully  pol- 
ished. Its  entire  lens;th  is  seventeen  inches  and  a 
quarter,  the  handle — which  is  round  and  tapering — be- 
ing fourteen  inches  and  a  quarter  long,  and  the  blade 
three  inches  long  and  nearly  as  wide.  The  blade,  both 
on  its  sides  and  bottom,  was  brought  to  an  edge.  We 
suppose  this  to  have  been  an  agricultural  tool. 

Large  and  roughly-chipped,  leaf-shaped  flint  imple- 
ments, of  which  Figs.  3,  4,  and  5,  Plate  XVII.,  may 
be  taken  as  types,  are  found  in  considerable  numbers. 
These,  we  think,  should  be  properly  classed  among 
primitive  agricultural  tools.  None  of  them,  however, 
so  far  as  my  observation  extends,  are  as  well  formed  or 
clearly  marked  as  the  notched  implements  from  East 
St.  Louis,  so  well  described  by  Prof.  Rau  in  the  Smith- 
sonian Report  for  1868.1 

After  favoring  us  with  an  account  of  the  manner 
in  which  the  Louisiana  Indians  constructed  their  huts, 
Du  Pratz 2  says :  "  Near  all  their  habitations  they  have 
fields  of  maiz  and  of  another  nourishing  grain  called 
CJioupichoid,  which  grows  without  culture.  For  dress- 
ing their  fields,  they  invented  houghs  which  are  formed 
in  the  shape  of  an  l,  having  the  lower  part  flat  and 
sharp ;  and  to  take  the  husk  from  their  corn  they  made 

1T.  401,  etseq. 

2  "History  of  Louisiana,"  etc.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  225.     London,  1703. 


/ValeJW. 


AM  PHOTOLITHOGRAPHIC  CO  NYiOSBORMS  PROCESS) 


CEEEMONIES    OF   THE    BOOS-KE-TAU.  803 

large  wooden  mortars,  by  hollowing  the  trunks  of  trees 
with  fire." 

The  corn  having  attained  its  maturity,  and  being 
ready  for  harvest,  a  day  was  named  by  the  mico  for  the 
celebration  of  the  annual  festival  known  among  the 
Creeks  as  Boos-ke-tau.  In  Cussetuh,  eight  days  were 
spent  in  conducting  the  prescribed  ceremonies,  while 
in  towns  of  lesser  importance  four  days  sufficed  for  the 
observance  of  this  memorable  season  of  purification, 
thanksgiving,  and  rejoicing. 

On  the  morning  of  the  first  day,1  the  warriors  clean 
the  yard  of  the  square  and  sprinkle  it  with  white  sand- 
The  a-cee,  or  decoction  of  the  cassine  yupon,  is  made. 
The  fire-maker  kindles  the  fire,  as  early  as  he  can,  by 
friction.  Four  logs,  each  as  long  as  a  man  can  cover 
by  extending  his  two  arms,  are  cut  and  brought  by  the 
warriors  and  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  square,  end  to 
end.  thus  forming  a  cross.  The  outer  ends  indicate 
the  cardinal  points.  In  the  centre  of  the  cross  the  new 
fire  is  made.  These  four  logs  are  burnt  out  during  the 
first  four  days. 

The  Pin-e-bun-gau  (turkey-dance)  is  danced  by  the 
women  of  the  turkey  tribe,  and  while  they  are  dancing 
the  possau  is  brewed.  This  is  a  powerful  emetic. 
From  twelve  o'clock  to  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  the 
possau  is  drunk.  After  this  four  men  and  four  women 
dance  the  Toc-co-yule-gau  (tadpole).  From  evening 
until  daylight  E-ne-hou-bun-gau  (the  dance  of  the  peo- 
ple second  in  command)  is  danced  by  the  men. 

About  ten  o'clock,  the  second  day,  the  women  dance 
Its-ho-bun-gau  (the  gun-dance).  After  twelve,  the 
men  go  to  the  new  fire,  take  some  of  the  ashes,  rub 

1  "  Sketch  of  the  Creek  Country  by  Colonel  Benjamin  Hawkins."     Collection 
of  the  Georgia  Historical  Society,  vol.  iii.,  part  1,  p.  75.     Savannah,  1848. 


304  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

them  on  the  chin,  neck,  and  belly,  jump  head-foremost 
into  the  river,  and  then  return  into  the  square.  The 
women  having  prepared  the  new  corn  for  the  feast,  the 
men  take  some  of  it  and  rub  it  between  their  hands 
and  then  on  their  faces  and  breasts,  and  then  they  feast. 

During  the  third  day  the  men  sit  in  the  square. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day  the  women 
get  the  new  fire,  clean  out  their  hearths,  sprinkle  them 
with  sand,  and  kindle  their  fires.  The  men  finish 
burning  out  the  first  four  logs,  and  then  rubbing  them- 
selves with  the  ashes  on  their  chins,  necks,  and  bellies, 
go  into  the  water.  This  day  salt  is  eaten,  and  they 
dance  Obungauchapco  (the  long  dance). 

The  fifth  day  four  new  logs  are  brought  and  placed 
in  the  same  position  as  on  the  first.  They  drink  also 
a-cee,  the  strong  decoction  of  the  cassine  yupon. 

During  the  sixth  day  they  remain  in  the  square. 

The  seventh  day  is  passed  in  like  manner. 

On  the  eighth  day  they  get  two  large  pots  and 
their  physic-p]ants,  to  wit :  Mic-co-ho-yon-e-juh,  Toloh, 
A-che-nau,  Cup-pau-pos-cau,  Chu-lis-sau,  Tuck-thlau-lus- 
te,  Tote-cul-hil-lis-so-wau,  Chofeinsuck-cau-fuck-au,  Cho- 
fe-mus-see,  Hil-lis-hut-ke,  To-te-cuh-chooc-his-see,  Welau- 
nuh,  Oak-chon-utch-co,  and  Co-hal-le-wau-gee.  These 
are  all  put  into  the  pots  and  beaten  up  with  water.  The 
chemists  (E-lic-chul-gee,  called  by  the  traders  physic- 
makers)  blow  into  the  decoction  through  a  small  reed, 
and  then  the  men  drink  it  and  rub  it  over  their  joints 
until  the  afternoon.  They  then  collect  old  corn-cobs 
and  pine-burs,  and,  placing  them  in  a  pot,  burn  them 
to  ashes.  Four  virgins  who  have  never  had  their  men- 
ses bring  ashes  from  their  houses,  and,  having  put 
them  into  the  pot,  stir  all  together.  The  men  take 
white  clay,  and  mix  it  with  water  in  two  pans.     A  pan 


CEREMONIES    OE   THE    BOOS— KE-TAU.  305 

of  this  clay  and  one  of  ashes  are  carried  to  the  cabin 
of  the  mico.  Two  pans  similarly  filled  are  taken  to 
the  cabin  of  the  warriors.  With  the  clay  and  ashes 
they  rub  themselves.  Two  men,  appointed  to  that 
office,  bring  flowers  of  tobacco  of  a  small  kind  (Itch- 
au-chu-le-puc-pug-gee)  or,  as  the  name  imports,  the  old 
man's  tobacco,  wThich  was  j)repared  on  the  first  day, 
and  putting  it  in  a  pan  on  the  mico's  cabin,  give  a 
little  of  it  to  all  who  are  present. 

The  mico  and  councillors  then  q-o  four  times 
around  the  fire,  and  every  time  they  face  the  east 
throw  some  of  the  flowers  into  the  fire.  They  then 
go  and  stand  to  the  west.  The  same  ceremony  is  re- 
peated by  the  warriors. 

A  cane  is  stuck  up  at  the  cabin  of  the  mico,  with 
two  white  feathers  in  its  end.  A  member  of  the  Fish 
tribe  (Thlot-lo-ul-gee)  takes  it  just  as  the  sun  goes 
down  and  moves  off  toward  the  river,  all  following 
him.  When  half-way  to  the  river,  he  gives  the  death- 
whoop.  This  he  repeats  four  times  between  the 
square  and  the  water's  edge.  Here,  they  all  locate 
themselves  as  close  together  as  they  can  stand.  The 
cane  is  stuck  up  at  the  water's  edge,  and  they  all  put 
a  grain  of  the  old  man's  tobacco  on  their  heads  and  in 
each  ear.  At  a  given  signal,  four  times  repeated,  they 
throw  some  of  this  tobacco  into  the  river,  and  every 
man  upon  a  like  signal  plunges  into  the  stream  and 
picks  up  four  stones  from  the  bottom.  With  these 
they  cross  themselves  four  times  on  the  breast,  each 
time  throwing  a  stone  into  the  river  and  giving  the 
death- whoop.  They  then  wash  themselves,  take  up 
the  cane  with  the  feathers,  return  and  stick  it  up  in 
the  square,  and  visit  through  the  town.  At  night  they 
dance  O-bun-gau-Haujo    (the   mad   dance),  and   this 


306  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

finishes  the  ceremony.  This  happy  institution  of  the 
Boos-ke-tuk  *  restores  man  to  himself,  his  family,  and  to 
his  nation.  It  is  a  general  amnesty  which  not  only 
absolves  the  Indians  from  all  crimes,  murder  excepted, 
but  seems  to  bury  guilt  itself  in  oblivion.  In  ancient 
times  this  festival  was  celebrated  at  the  appearance 
of  the  first  new  moon  during  which  the  corn  became 
fully  eared.  Subsequently,  however,  it  was  regulated 
by  the  season  of  the  harvest."  From  the  time  con- 
sumed and  the  formalities  observed  in  its  solemniza- 
tion, it  is  manifest  how  important  and  sacred  this 
Feast  of  the  Busk  was  in  the  estimation  of  the  agricul- 
tural tribes  of  the  South.  The  ingathering  of  the 
matured  maize-crop  was  preceded  by  an  extinguish- 
ment of  former  fires  and  the  kindling  of  one  consecrated 
new  flame,  which  was  to  prove  the  parent  of  light  and 
heat  for  the  coming  year.  This  was  the  season  of 
physical  and  moral  purification,  of  general  forgiveness, 
universal  amnesty  and  united  thanksgiving.  Then 
was  the  blotted  chapter  of  the  old  year  closed  and 
sealed,  and  a  new,  clean  page  opened  in  the  life  of 
every  one.  No  wonder  that  these  primitive  peoples 
held  this  maize  in  special  honor  and  watched  its  growth 
with  emotions  other  than  and  superior  to  those  which 
would   have   been   suggested,  had   they  regarded  it 

1  For  other  accounts  of  the  solemnization  of  this  festival,  see  Du  Pratz'  "  His- 
tory of  Louisiana,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  189,  et  seq.  ;  Schoolcraft's  "Archives  of  Aboriginal 
Knowledge,"  vol.  v.,  p.  267,  et  seq.  ;  Adair's  "  History  of  the  American  Indians,"  p. 
99,  et  seq. ;  Bartram's  "  Indians  of  the  South,"  part  1,  of  vol.  iii.  of  the  Transac- 
tions of  the  American  Ethnological  Society.  Bartram's  "  Travels  through  North 
and  South  Carolina,  Georgia,"  etc.,  etc.,  p.  507,  el  seq.  ;  Brickell's  "  Natural  His- 
tory of  North  Carolina,"  p.  326. 

For  the  ceremony  and  preparation  of  the  Black-Drink,  see  Schoolcraft's  "  Ar- 
chives of  Aboriginal  Knowledge,"  vol.  v.,  p.  266,  et  seq.  ;  "  Brevis  Narratio,"  plate 
xxix. 

2  Adair's  "  History  of  the  American  Indians,"  etc.,  p.  99.     London,  1775. 


HARVESTING   THE    CROPS. PUBLIC    GRANARIES.    307 

simply  as  an  ordinary  plant  and  a  common  article  of 
food. 

This  festival  over,  immediate  attention  was  directed 
to  harvesting  the  crop.  Bartram '  says  that  the  whole 
town  then  assembled,  and  every  man  carried  to  his 
own  granary  the  fruits  of  his  labor  from  the  part  of 
the  general  plantation  allotted  to  him  in  the  spring. 
This  share  of  the  harvest  became  his  individual  prop- 
erty. Previous,  however,  to  their  carrying  off  their 
crops  from  the  field,  he  continues,  "  there  is  a  large 
crib  or  granaiy,  erected  in  the  plantation,  which  is 
called  the  king's  crib ;  and  to  this  each  family  carries 
and  deposits  a  certain  quantity  according  to  his  ability 
or  inclination,  or  none  at  all  if  he  so  chooses :  this  in 
appearance  seems  a  tribute  or  revenue  to  the  Mico ; 
but,  in  fact,  is  designed  for  another  purpose,  i.  e.,  that 
of  a  public  treasury  supplied  by  a  few  and  voluntary 
contributions,  and  to  which  every  citizen  has  the  right 
of  free  and  equal  access  when  his  own  private  stores 
are  consumed ;  to  serve  as  a  surplus  to  fly  to  for  suc- 
cour ;  to  assist  neighbouring  towns,  whose  crops  may 
have  failed ;  accommodate  strangers  or  travellers ;  afford 
provisions  or  supplies  when  they  go  forth  on  hostile 
expeditions ;  and  for  all  other  exigencies  of  the  state ; 
and  this  treasure  is  at  the  disposal  of  the  king  or 
Mico." 

It  is  probable  that  this  harvest-labor  formerly  de- 
volved to  a  large  extent  upon  the  women.  In  plate 
xxiii.  of  the  "  Brevis  Narratio,"  women,  and  men  of  that 
bestial  class  improperly  styled  in  the  early  narratives 
Hermaphrodites,  are  busily  engaged  in  the  transporta- 
tion of  baskets  filled  with  fruits.  The  preceding  plate 
exhibits  to  us  a  storehouse — located  on  the  low  bank  of 

1  "Travels,"  etc.,  p.  510.     London,  1792. 


30S  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

a  stream— toward  wliicli  several  canoes  filled  with  fruits 
and  corn  are  tending.  These  granaries  or  storehouses 
aniono-  the  Florida  Indians  were  built  of  stones  and 
earth,  and  covered  with  palmetto-leaves  and  clay.  For 
their  erection  some  cool  spot  was  selected  where  pro- 
tection was  afforded  against  the  violent  rays  of  the  sun. 
Such  storehouses  served  as  depositories  not  only  for 
maize,  fruits,  nuts,  and  roots,  "but  also  for  dried  fishes, 
alligators,  dogs,  deer,  and  other  jerked  meats.  These 
were  first  exposed  upon  a  scaffolding,1  made  of  poles, 
"beneath  which  a  fire  was  kindled  and  kept  "burning 
until  the  meat,  thoroughly  smoked  and  dried,  was  thus 
preserved  from  early  decomposition. 

These  hoards  of  corn,  meat,  and  fruits,  are  frequent- 
ly mentioned  in  the  early  narratives.  In  the  language 
of  the  "  Gentleman  of  Elvas,"  2  "  four  leagues  before 
coming  to  Chiaha  fifteen  men  met  the  Governor — bear- 
ing loads  of  maize — with  word  from  the  cacique  that 
he  waited  for  him,  having  twenty  barbacoas  full." 
Garcilasso  de  la  Vega 3  states  that  one  of  De  Soto's 
officers  found  in  one  house  five  hundred  measures  of 
ground  maize,  besides  a  large  quantity  in  the  grain. 
Lawson4  says  that  the  cabins  intended  for  granaries5 
were  made  without  windows. 

The  maize  thus  constituting  a  chief  source  of  sub- 
sistence among  the  Southern  Indians,  it  is  interesting 
to  note  the  method  generally  adopted  by  them  in  pre- 
paring it  for  cooking.  The  Fidalgo  of  Elvas  makes 
the   broad   assertion   that  the  bread  which  is  eaten 

1  Plate  xxiv.,  "  Brevis  Narratio." 

2  "Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto,"  translated  by  Buckingham 
Smith,  p.  69.     New  York,  1866. 

3  "  Conquete  de  la  Floride,"  vol.  i.,  p.  250.     Ley  den,  1731. 

4  "  History  of  Carolina,"  p.  290.     Reprint,     Raleigh,  1866. 

B  See  also  Briekell's  "  Natural  History  of  North  Carolina,"  p.   32V.     Dublin, 
lVRV.    LoskiePs  "  History,"  etc.,  p.  68.     London,  1794. 


je 


PREPAEATION  OF  MAIZE  EOE  FOOD.       309 

throughout  Florida  is  made  of  maize ;  and,  at  Apala- 
ehen,  Cabeca  de  Vaca  observed  numerous  mortars  for 
cracking  this  grain.  In  plate  xxviii.  of  the  "Brevis 
Narratio "  (conviviorum  apparatus),  a  flat,  round 
stone  mortar,  set  upon  the  ground,  is  represented 
among  other  articles.  A  native,  on  bended  knee, 
with  a  short,  stout  pestle  in  his  hand,  is  in  the  act 
of  grinding  something  for  the  feast.  The  intimation 
is,  however,  that  he  is  at  present  simply  bruising1 
some  fragrant  herbs  to  serve  as  a  seasoning  for  the  food 
which  is  boiling  in  the  great  clay  pot.  Among  the 
North  and  South  Carolina  Indians  "  the  savage  men 
*  never  beat  their  corn  to  make  bread,  but  that  is  the 
women's  work,  especially  the  girls,  of  whom  you  shall 
see  four  beating  with  long,  great  pestils  in  a  narrow 
wooden  mortar;  and  every  one  keeps  her  stroke  so  ex- 
actly, that  'tis  worthy  of  admiration."  ' 

"  Their  common  food,"  says  Captain  Bernard  Ro- 
mans,3 "  is  the  zea  or  Indian  corn,  of  which  they  make 
meal  and  boil  it ;  they  also  parch  it  and  then  pound  it ; 
thus  taking  it  on  their  journey  they  mix  it  with  cold 
water,  and  will  travel  a  great  way  without  any  other 
food  ;  .  .  .  they  have  also  a  Way  of  drying  and  pound- 
ing their  corn  before  it  comes  to  maturity ;  this  they 
call  hoota  copassa  (i.  e.,  cold  flour)  ;  this  in  small  quan- 
tities thrown  into  cold  water  boils  and  swells  as  much 
as  common  meal  boiled  over  a  fire ;  it  is  hearty  food, 
and  being  sweet,  they  are  fond  of  it,"  etc. 

To  Adair 4  are  we  indebted  for  the  following  ac- 
j:  count  of  the  mortars  in  which  the  women  beat  the 


1  "  Alter  aromata  cibis  inspergenda  in  piano  aliquo  lapide  atterit." 

2  Lawson's  "History  of  Carolina,"  p.  336.     Raleigh,  reprint,  1860. 

3  "  Concise  Natural  History  of  East  and  West  Florida,"  etc.,  p.  68.   New  York, 
1/75. 

4  "History  of  the  American  Indians,"  etc.,  p.  416.     London,  1T75. 


310  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

flinty  corn  until  all  the  husks  were  carefully  taken  off, 
and  the  cracked  grains — well  sifted  and  fanned — 
neatly  prepared  for  boiling  in  large  earthen  pots : 
"  The  Indians  always  used  mortars  instead  of  mills, 
and  they  had  them,  with  almost  every  other  conven- 
ience, when  .we  first  opened  a  trade  with  them;  they 
cautiously  burned  a  large  log  to  a  proper  level  and 
length,  placed  fire  a-top,  and  wet  mortar  round  it,  in 
order  to  give  the  utensil  a  proper  form ;  and  when  the 
fire  was  extinguished,  or  occasion  required,  they  chopped 
the  inside  with  their  stone-instruments,  patiently  con- 
tinuing the  slow  process  till  they  finished  the  ma- 
chine to  the  intended  purpose." 

Of  this  maize,  the  same  writer  informs  us,  the  In- 
dians of  Upper  Georgia  and  the  adjacent  region  pos- 
sessed three  varieties :  the  first  was  small,  matured  in 
two  months,  and  was  called  by  the  English  "  six  weeks' 
corn ; "  the  second  was  yellow  and  flinty,  and  known 
among  the  natives  as  "  hommony-corn ; "  while  the 
third,  which  was  largest  and  yielded  a  white,  soft 
grain,  was  called  "  bread-corn."  "  In  July,  when  the 
chestnuts  and  corn  are  green  and  full-grown,  they  half- 
boil  the  former  and  take  off  the  rind;  and  having 
sliced  the  milky,  swelled,  long  rows  of  the  latter,  the 
women  pound  it  in  a  large  wooden  mortar,  which  is 
wide  at  the  mouth  and  gradually  narrows  to  the  bot- 
tom ;  then  they  knead  both  together ;  wrap  them  up  in 
green  corn-blades  of  various  sizes,  about  an  inch  thick 
and  boil  them  well,  as  they  do  every  kind  of  seethed 
food.  This  sort  of  bread  is  very  tempting  to  the  taste, 
and  reckoned  most  delicious  to  their  strong  palates. 
They  have  another  sort  of  boiled  bread,  which  is  mixed 
with  beans  or  potatoes  ;  'they  put  on  the  soft  corn  till 
it  begins  to  boil,  and  pound  it  sufficiently  fine.  .  .  . 


MOETAES    AND    PESTLES.  311 

When  tlie  flour  is  stirred  and  dried  by  the  heat  of 
the  sun  or  fire,  they  sift  it  with  sieves  of  different 
sizes  curiously  made  of  the  coarser  or  finer  cane  splin- 
ters. The  thin  cakes  mixt  with  bear's  oil  were  former- 
ly baked  on  thin  broad  stones  placed  over  a  fire,  or 
on  broad  earthen  bottoms  fit  for  such  a  use.  .  .  .  When 
they  intend  to  bake  great  loaves  they  make  a  strong, 
blazing  fire,  with  short,  dry,  split  wood  on  the  hearth. , 
When  it  is  burnt  down  to  coals  they  carefully  take 
them  off  to  each  side  and  sweep  away  the  remaining 
ashes ;  then  they  put  their  well-kneaded  broad  loaf, 
first  steeped  in  hot  water,  over  the  hearth,  and  an 
earthen  bason  above  it,  with  the  coals  and  embers 
atop.  This  method  of  baking  is  as  clean  and  effica- 
cious as  could  possibly  be  done  in  any  oven ;  when 
they  take  it  off  they  wash  the  loaf  with  warm  water, 
and  it  soon  becomes  firm  and  very  white.  It  is  like- 
wise very  wholesome  and  well-tasted  to  any  except  the 
vitiated  palate  of  an  Epicure." 

While  it  is  well  ascertained  that  wooden  mortars 
and  pestles  were  in  general  use  among  the  Indians * 
at  the  period  of  our  first  acquaintance  with  them,  and 
furnished  a  ready  method  for  husking  and  pounding 
their  maize,  it  is  equally  certain  that  at  some  remote 
time  mortars,  pestles,  and  crushing  implements,  made 
of  stone,  were  not  uncommon.  Dr.  Dickeson  and  other 
explorers  have  found  them  in  the  tumuli  of  Alabama, 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Texas.  They  have  been 
taken  from  the  mounds  of  South  Carolina  and  Florida. 
From  a  single  relic-bed  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Savan- 
nah River,  a  few  miles  above  Augusta,  I  obtained,  at 

1  See  Du  Pratz'  "History  of  Louisiana,"  vol.  xi.,  p.  225.  London,  1763. 
Loskiel's  "  History,"  etc.,  p.  67.  London,  1794.  Schoolcraft's  "  Archives  of 
Aboriginal  Knowledge,"  vol.  iii.,  Plate  28,  Fig.  C. 


312  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

one  time,  thirteen  stone  mortars  made  of  flat  bowlders 
taken  from  the  bed  of  the  stream  and  hollowed  out 
on  both  sides  to  the  depth  of  two  or  three  inches. 
{See  Figs.  1  and  2,  Plate  XVIII.)  The  average  diame- 
ter of  these  shallow,  basin-like  excavations  was  rather 
more  than  nine  inches.  No  labor  had  been  expended 
in  shaping  the  stones.  The  natives  took  them  as  they 
f  mnd  them,  and  simply  formed  the  cavities.  Placed 
upon  the  ground  or  held  in  the  lap,  with  the  assistance 
of  the  ordinary  disk-shaped  crushing-stones  —  large 
numbers  of  which  were  seen  in  the  vicinity — the 
green  corn  could  have  been  mashed,  the  parched  corn 
pounded,  or  the  husks  beaten  from  the  ripe  grains. 
This  rude  variety  is  frequently  met  with  in  many  por- 
tions of  the  State.  Belonging  to  the  same  class,  ex- 
cept that  it  has  been  hollowed  out  only  on  one  side,  is 
the  mortar  represented  in  Fig.  3,  Plate  XVIII. 

The  bowl  is  scarely  more  than  an  inch  in  depth, 
and  about  five  inches  in  diameter.  By  far  the  most 
symmetrical  and  carefully-fashioned  mortar  I  have  seen 
was  ploughed  up  in  a  field  in  Liberty  County,  some 
ten  miles  from  the  sea-coast.  Made  of  a  yellow,  ferru- 
ginous quartz,  with  a  flat  bottom  and  circular  walls 
gradually  expanding  as  they  rose,  its  general  shape 
was  that  of  an  inverted,  truncated  cone.  Entirely  arti- 
ficial, the  exterior  was  well  polished.  About  ten  inch- 
es high,  eight  inches  in  diameter  at  the  top,  and 
seven  inches  at  the  bottom,  the  interior  had  been  ex- 
cavated to  the  depth  of  nearly  eight  inches.  At  the 
top  the  walls  were  about  three-quarters  of  an  inch 
thick,  and  increased  in  thickness  as  they  descended.  No 
material  exists  in  this  section  of  the  State  from  which 
such  a  utensil  could  have  been  manufactured.  The 
probability  is,  that  it  was  made  at  a  considerable  re- 


Wate  JMT. 


AM  I'-HOfO-LITHOSKAf'HICCO  N  Y  OSFtCm:      r--hjl.Ei.' 


MORTARS.  313 

move  from  the  spot  where  it  was  found,  and  was  sub- 
sequently brought  to  the  coast  by  some  primitive  mer- 
chantman, by  whom  it  was  there  exchanged  for  sea- 
shells  and  other  articles  of  value  native  to  this  region. 
Upon  its  construction  great  time  and  labor  must  have 
been  expended ;  and  this  relic  is  a  remarkable  illus- 
tration of  the  skill  and  patient  industry  of  the  ancient 
workman,  who,  unassisted  by  any  metallic  tools,  was 
able  from  such  a  hard  substance  to  fashion  a  mortar 
so  serviceable  and  so  admirable  in  all  its  proportions. 
A  mortar  not  unlike  in  its  general  appearance  was  ob- 
tained by  the  Rev.  George  Howe,  D.  D.,  from  an  In- 
dian cemetery  on  the  bank  of  the  Congaree  River,  a 
few  miles  from  Columbia,  South  Carolina.  It  is  figured 
in  the  plate  facing  page  178  of  the  sixth  volume  of  Mr. 
Schoolcraft's  "  Archives  of  Aboriginal  Knowledge." 
In  a  subsequent  chapter  we  will  observe  that  some  of 
the  imperforate  discoidal  stones  clearly  indicate  that 
at  some  time  or  other  they  have  been  diverted  from 
the  original  purpose  for  which  the}^  were  manufac- 
tured, and  have  been  treated  as  mortars.  This  sec- 
ondary use  entitles  such  to  specific  mention  in  this 
connection.  In  addition  to  the  stone  mortars  de- 
scribed, I  have  seen,  in  the  middle  and  upper  parts  of 
the  State,  large  bowlders — some  of  them  waist-high — 
permanent  in  their  location,  whose  tops  had  been  hol- 
lowed out  for  mortars.  These  cavities  were  circular 
in  form,  and  capable  of  holding  a  half-peck  or  more. 
They  may  be  regarded  as  public  property,  and  afford 
proof  of  the  stability  of  the  agricultural  population  by 
which  they  were  used.  Hunter  '  alludes  to  the  pres- 
ence of  wooden  mortars  among  the  tribes  west  of  the 

1  "  Manners  and  Customs  of  Several  Indian  Tribes  located  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi," pp.  269,  27-0.     Philadelphia,  1823. 


314  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

Mississippi,  and  says  that,  "  in  addition,  each  village 
has  one  or  two  large  stone  mortars  for  pounding  corn  ; 
they  are  placed  in  a  central  situation,  are  public  prop- 
erty, and  are  used  in  rotation  by  the  different  families." 
Mr.  Bartlett  counted,  at  El  Paso,  twenty-six  artificial 
cavities  in  detached  blocks  of  stone  which  had  been 
hollowed  out  by  the  Indians,  and  served  as  mortars  in 
which  to  pound  their  maize.1  The  pestles  handled  in 
connection  with  the  wooden  mortars,  consisted  of  pieces 
of  hard  wood  between  three  and  four  feet  long,  heavy 
and  rounded  at  each  end,  and  narrow  in  the  middle 
where  they  were  grasped. 

Stone  pestles — of  which  Figures  4  and  5,  Plate 
XVIII.,  are  typical  representations — were  both  shorter 
and  narrower,  varying  in  length  from  seven  to  eigh- 
teen inches,  and  from  one  to  three  inches  in  diameter. 
Usually  rounded  at  both  ends,  there  are  some  which 
expand  at  the  lower  end,2  thus  affording  a  circular, 
flat  crushing  surface.  The  upper  ends  of  others  are 
ornamented — being  sculptured  after  the  similitude  of 
the  head  of  a  bird,  animal,  or  snake,  and  sometimes  in 
imitation  of  the  male  organ  of  generation. 

Figures  6  and  8,  Plate  XVIII.,  represent  the  cus- 
tomary forms  of  maize-crushers  or  triturating  stones. 
Relics  of  this  class  are  very  numerous.  They  are  gen- 
erally circular  in  form,  with  two  flat  surfaces,  or  one 
flat  and  the  other  convex,  and  can  be  conveniently 
grasped  and  manipulated  with  the  hand.  The  flat 
surfaces  plainly  indicate  the  use  to  which  they  were 
applied.  Sometimes  round,  water-worn  pebbles  were 
employed   as   mealing-stones — no  pains  having   been 

1  "  Explorations,"  etc.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  370.     New  York,  1854. 

2  Compare  "  Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  p.  220,  Fig.  118. 
Washington,  1848. 


PESTLES. MAIZE-CRUSHERS. NUT-STONES.         315 

taken  to  modify  their  natural  shapes  where  they  could 
be  made  serviceable.  Diorite,  quartz-rock,  agate,  and 
flint,  were  the  favorite  materials  from  which  these 
pestles  and  maize-crushers  were  manufactured. 

In  this  connection,  it  seems  proper  that  we  should 
notice  a  class  of  relics  found  in  considerable  quantities 
in  Middle  and  Upper  Georgia.  When  I  first  observed 
them  upon  the  site  of  an  ancient  Indian  village  near  the 
confluence  of  Great  Kiokee  Creek  and  the  Savannah 
River,  I  was  somewhat  at  a  loss  to  comprehend  their 
precise  use.  More  than  thirty  were  there  seen  within 
the  space  of  a  few  acres.  They  consist  of  irregular 
masses  of  compact  sandstone  or  soap-stone,  weighing 
from  two  to  ten  pounds,  in  whose  surfaces  occur  cir- 
cular depressions  from  an  inch  to  an  inch  and  a  half  in 
diameter,  and  from  one-quarter  to  three-quarters  of  an 
inch  in  depth.  Upon  the  broadest  and  flattest  sides, 
these  depressions,  from  three  to  five  in  number,  are 
located  close  together.  {See  Fig.  7,  Plate  XVIII.)  To 
produce  them  the  harder  stones  had  been  pecked,  and 
the  softer,  gouged.  Not  only  on  one  side  do  they  ap- 
pear, but  frequently  on  both  sides  and  often  in  the 
ends,  so  that  the  stone,  when  set  up  in  the  earth  on  any 
one  of  its  faces,  would  always  present  one  or  more  of 
these  cup-shaped  cavities,  ready  for  use. 

The  Gentleman  of  Elvas '  informs  us  that  in  Chiaha, 
"There  was  abundance  of  lard  in  calabashes,  drawn 
like  olive-oil,  which  the  inhabitants  said  was  the  fat 
of  bear.  There  was  likewise  found  much  oil  of  wal- 
nuts, which,  like  the  lard,  was  clear  and  of  good  taste." 

Biedma 2  confirms  this  statement,  and  says,  "  In  this 

1  "Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto,"  translated  by  Buckingham 
Smith,  p.  69.     New  York,  1866. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  241.    New  York,  1866. 


316  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

province  where  we  began  to  find  the  towns  set  about 
with  fence,  the  Indians  get  a  large  quantity  of  oil  from 
walnuts."  At  various  points  reached  during  the  prog- 
ress of  the  expedition,  walnuts  were  found  stored  in 
the  granaries  of  the  natives ;  and  Cabeca  de  Vaca  as- 
serts that  these  nuts,  ground  with  a  small  kind  of 
grain,  furnished  subsistence  for  two  months  in  the 
year.1  Under  the  term  walnut,  the  historians  of  the 
expedition  probably  included  not  only  the  nut  which 
we  designate  by  that  name,  but  also  all  the  varieties 
of  the  hickory-Dut  with  which  the  country  abounded. 
It  is  clear  that  in  his  forty-fourth  chapter  the  Knight 
of  Elvas  confounds  the  pecan-nut  with  the  walnut.2 
"  Westward  of  the  Rio  Grande,"  says  he,  "  the  walnut 
differs  from  that  which  is  found  before  coming  there, 
being  of  tenderer  shell,  and  in  form  like  an  acorn : 
while  that  behind,  from  the  river  back  to  the  port  of 
Espiritu  Santo,  is  generally  rather  hard,  the  tree  and 
the  nut  being  in  their  appearance  like  those  of  Spain." 
Among  the  Indians  of  Louisiana  so  important  an  article 
of  food  was  the  walnut,  that  the  thirteenth  moon  was 
called  the  walnut  moon.  It  was  during  that  month 
that  they  cracked  their  nuts  to  make  bread  of  them  by 
mixing  them  with  the  flour  of  maize.3  Bernard  Ro- 
mans 4  assures  us  that  the  Florida  Indians  used  hickory- 
nuts  in  plenty,  making  from  them  a  milky  liquor  of 
which  they  were  very  fond,  and  which  they  ate  with 
sweet  potatoes.5     From  Bartram's  Travels,5  we  extract 

1  "  Relation  of  Alvar  Nunez  Cabeca  de  Vaca,"  translated  by  Buckingham 
Smith,  p.  90.     New  York,  1871. 

8  "  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto,"  translated  by  Buckingham 
Smith,  p.  202.     New  York,  1866. 

3  Du  Pratz'  "  History  of  Louisiana,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  195.     London,  1*763. 

*  "  A  Concise  Natural  History  of  East  and  West  Florida,"  etc.,  p.  68.  New 
York,  1116. 

5  Page  38.     London,  1792. 


USE    OF   HICKOKY-NUTS   AND    WALNUTS.  317 

the  following :  "  We  then  passed  over  large,  rich  savan- 
nas, or  natural  meadows,  wide-spreading  cane  swamps, 
and  frequently  old  Indian  settlements,  now  deserted 
and  overgrown  with  forests.  These  are  always  on  or 
near  the  banks  of  rivers,  or  great  swamps,  the  artificial 
mounts  and  terraces  elevating  them  above  the  surround- 
ing  groves.  I  observed  in  the  ancient  cultivated  fields : 
1.  Diospyros;  2.  Gleditsia  triacanthos ;  3.  Prunus  chica- 
sau;  4.  Callicarpa;  5.  Morus  rubra;  C.  Juglans  ex- 
altata ;  7.  Juglans  nigra,  which  inform  us  that  these 
trees  were  cultivated  by  the  ancients  on  account  of 
their  fruit  as  being  wholesome  and  nourishing  food. 
Though  these  are  natives  of  the  forest,1  yet  they  thrive 
better,  and  are  more  fruitful  in  cultivated  plantations, 
and  the  fruit  is  in  great  estimation  with  the  present 
generation  of  Indians,  particularly  Juglans  exaltata, 
commonly  called  shell-barked  hiccory.  The  Creeks 
store  up  the  last  in  their  towns.  I  have  seen  above 
an  hundred  bushels  of  these  nuts  belonoino*  to  one 
family.  They  pound  them  to  pieces,  and  then  cast 
them  into  boiling  water,  which,  after  passing  through 
fine  strainers,  preserves  the  most  oily  part  of  the 
liquid ;  this,  they  call  by  a  name  which  signifies  hic- 
cory milk ;  it  is  as  sweet  and  rich  as  fresh  cream,  and 
is  an  ingredient  in  most  of  their  cookery,  especially 
homony  and  corn  cakes."  Eeferring  to  the  use  made 
of  walnuts  by  the  Virginia  Indians,  Hariot  writes: 
"  Besides  their  eating  of  them  after  our  ordinarie 
maner,  they  breake  them  with  stones,  and  pound  them 
•  in  morters  with  water  to  make  a  milk  which  they  vse 
to  put  into  some  sorts  of  their  spoonmeate ;  also  among 

1  "  The  Chickasaw  plumb,  I  think,  must  be  excepted,  for,  though  certainly  a 
native  of  America,  yet  I  never  saw  it  wild  in  the  forests,  but  always  in  old  deserted 
Indian  plantations:  I  suppose  it  to  have  been  brought  from  the  southwest  beyond 
the  Mississippi  by  the  Chicasaws." 


318  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE   SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

their  sodde  wheat,  peaze,  beanes,  and  pompions  which 
maketli  them  haue  a  farre  more  pleasant  taste."  l 

We  have  thus,  at  some  length,  referred  to  the  use 
of  nuts  as  an  article  of  food  among  the  Southern  In- 
dians, because  we  hence  derive  the  meaning  and  em- 
ployment of  these  cup-shaped  cavities.  In  our  judg- 
ment these  relics  are  simply  the  stones  upon  which  the 
Indians  cracked  their  nuts.  Their  cavities  are  so 
located  that  one,  two,  three,  four,  five,  and  sometimes 
more  nuts  could  be  cracked  at  a  single  blow  delivered 
by  means  of  the  circular,  flat  crushing-stone  so  com- 
mon, and  so  often  found  in  direct  connection  with  the 
rude  articles  now  under  consideration.  The  cups  are 
just  large  enough  to  hold  a  hickory -nut  or  a  walnut  in 
proper  position  so  that,  when  struck,  its  pieces  would 
be  prevented  from  being  widely  scattered.  Particu- 
larly do  the  soap-stones  indicate  the  impressions  left 
by  the  convex  surfaces  of  the  harder  nuts.  Upon  some 
of  them  the  depressions  seem  to  have  been  caused 
simply  by  repeatedly  cracking  the  nuts  upon  the  same 
spot  so  that  in  time  a  concavity  was  produced  corre- 
sponding to  the  half  of  the  spherical  or  spheroidal  nut. 
Such  is  the  most  natural  explanation  we  can  offer  with 
regard  to  the  use  of  these  stones. 

In  one  of  the  Western  mounds  Messrs.  Squier  and 
Davis  found  a  block  of  compact  sandstone,  weighing 
between  thirty  and  forty  pounds,  with  several  circular 
depressions  resembling  those  in  the  work-blocks  of 
coppersmiths  in  which  plates  of  metal  are  hammered 
to  give  them  convexity.  These  depressions  were  arti- 
ficial, and  possessed  various  diameters.  It  was  suggested 


1  "  A  Briefe  and  True  Report,"  etc.,  p.  18.     Francoforti  ad  Mcenum.     De  Bry, 
anno  1590. 


STONES    UPON   WHICH    NUTS    WERE    CEACKED.       319 

that  in  such  moulds  disks  or  medals  of  copper  were 
formed.1 

Colonel  Charles  Whittlesey,  in  a  recent  monograph,3 
alludes  to  the  existence  of  hundreds  of  stones,  in  Cuy- 
ahoga Valley  and  throughout  the  northern  portion  of 
Ohio,  with  circular,  cup-shaped  cavities,  sometimes  on 
one  side  and  again  on  both  sides,  with  diameters 
•varying  from  a  point  to  an  inch  and  a  half,  and  half 
the  diameter  in  depth,  which,  from  the  description 
given  and  from  the  photograph  of  one  of  them,  we  are 
inclined  to  regard  as  very  similar  to,  if  not  identical 
with,  those  which  have  just  engaged  our  attention. 
He  pronounces  them  spindle-socket  stones.  Without 
a  personal  inspection  of  these  relics  it  would  not  be 
proper  to  express  a  decided  opinion ;  and  yet,  in  view 
of  the  facts  as  they  appear,  we  cannot  resist  the  im- 
pression that  these  too  are  stones  on  which  nuts  were 
cracked  by  the  primitive  peoples  who  dwelt  in 
the  rich  valleys  of  Ohio.  It  comports  not  with  our 
present  design  to  criticise  the  suggestions  of  Messrs. 
Squier  and  Davis,  and  of  Colonel  Whittlesey,  with  re- 
gard to  the  particular  specimens  which  claimed  their 
examination ;  nevertheless,  I  am  free  to  confess,  while 
standing  upon  the  sites  of  ancient  Indian  villages,  in 
Georgia,  at  present  overshadowed  by  large  hickory  and 
walnut  trees  filled  with  fruit — calling  to  mind  the  re- 
corded observations  of  the  early  travellers  concurring 
in  the  statement  that  the  red-men  of  this  region  in- 
dustriously collected  and  hoarded  these  nuts,  using 
them  as  a  favorite  article  of  food  in  connection  with 
their  corn-bread  and  hominy — conjecturing  the  method 

1  "  Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  pp.  206,  207,  Fig.  92.  Wash- 
ington, 1848. 

2  "  Ancient  Earth  Forts  of  the  Cuyahoga  Valley,  Ohio,"  pp.  33-35,  Plate  VIII- 
Cleveland,  1871. 


320  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEEN   INDIANS. 

in  all  likelihood  adopted  by  these  tribes  in  crushing 
them  in  order  that  they  might  conveniently  avail  them- 
selves of  the  rich  oil  and  sweet  flavor  which  dwelt 
within  the  tough  shells — and,  upon  the  very  spots 
where  they  had  long  since  been  abandoned,  unearthing 
these  irregularly-shaped  stones  with  their  cup-like  cavi- 
ties, I  felt  persuaded  that  I  saw  before  me  physical 
j)roofs  of  the  truth  of  history,  and  discerned  in  the  lo-« 
cality,  in  their  numbers  and  in  the  peculiar  conforma- 
tion of  these  rude  objects,  the  purpose  they  subserved 
in  the  olden  time. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Fishing. — Wears. — Nets. — Net-sinkers. — Plummets. 

Befoke  the  axe  of  the  European  was  lifted  against 
the  primeval  trees,  or  that  system  of  drainage  and  de- 
nudation inaugurated  by  which  large  tracts  of  densely- 
wooded  lands  have  been  gradually  converted  into  culti- 
vated fields  and  the  pleasant  sites  of  cities  and  villages, 
swamps,  meadows,  and  forests,  abounded  with  game  of 
every  description  native  to  this  semi-tropical  region. 
Amid  the  general  silence  which  then  reigned  unbroken, 
save  by  the  voices  of  Nature  and  the  occasional  dances, 
festivities  and  war-whoops  of  the  aborigines,  there  was 
little  to  terrify  the  wild  animals  at  sport  or  pasture, 
scarcely  any  thing  to  affright  the  birds  from  their  ac- 
customed homes.  The  Indian  population — limited  at 
best  and  confined  to  chosen  seats — wras  characterized 
by  remarkable  taciturnity.  On  every  hand  the  air 
^  was  vocal  with  the  variant  notes  of  the  feathered  tribe, 
and  every  brake  was  alive  with  the  forms  of  animal 
life.  Buffaloes,  bears,  deer,  cougars,  wild-cats,  raccoons, 
opossums,  beavers,  rabbits,  squirrels,  and  other  quadru- 
peds, frequented  the  woods  and  congregated  thickly  in 
the  moss-clad  margins  w-hich  environed  the  slu^ish 
lagoons,  undisturbed  save   by  the  noiseless  yet  fatal 


322  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE   SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

arrow  of  the  red  hunter,  uninterrupted  in  their  daily 
ranges  except  by  occasional  villages  scattered  here  and 
there  at  long  intervals  throughout  this  vast  domain. 

The  buffalo  long  since  ceased  to  exist  in  this  region. 
But  few  streams  give  present  token  of  the  industry  of 
the  beaver.  Bears  confine  themselves  to  the  vine- 
covered  depths  of  unfrequented  swamps.  The  cry  of 
the  cougar  is  seldom  heard  in  the  night-watches.  The 
wolf  is  no  longer  a  pest,  and  from  whole  districts  the 
deer  has  been  expelled.  For  the  untamed  denizens  of 
the  forest,  agriculture  and  civilization  have  made  no 
reservations.  Expatriation  and  death  have  been  meted 
out  even  to  the  hunter-tribes ;  and  they,  too,  are  dwell- 
ers here  no  longer.  In  that  ancient  time,  however, 
there  was  no  lack  of  food  either  in  the  woods  or  in  the 
waters.  The  early  narratives  frequently  mention  pres- 
ents of  deer,  bears,  and  wild-turkeys,  at  the  hands  of 
the  Indians,  and  perpetuate  the  admiration  of  the 
Europeans  as  they  beheld,  for  the  first  time,  the  path- 
less forests  teeming  with  game.  "  The  Indians  never 
lack  meat,"  says  the  Fidalgo  of  Elvas.  "  With  arrows 
they  get  abundance  of  deer,  turkeys,  conies,  and  other 
wild  animals,  being  very  skilful  in  killing  game."1 
''They  are  excellent  Hunters,"  affirms  Thomas  Ash, 
'  "  their  Weapons  the  Bow  and  Arrow  made  of  a  Read 
pointed  with  sharp  Stones  or  Fish  Bones." 2  Still- 
hunting  was  the  favorite  style,  and  in  plate  xxv.  of  the 
"  Brevis  Narratio  "  we  have  a  quaint  picture  of  three 
Florida  Indians  who,  concealed  in  the  skins  of  stags, 
and  with  drawn  bows  in  their  hands,  have  crept  upon 


1  "  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto,"  etc.,  p.  55.     Translation 
of  Buckingham  Smith.     New  York,  1866. 

a  "  Carolina,"  etc.,  by  T.  A.,  Gent.,  p.  35.     London,  1682. 


HUNTING    THE    ROE-DEER.  323 

and  are  on  the  eve  of  discharging  their  barbed  arrows 
into  a  herd  of  deer  drinking  at  a  stream.1 

Bossu 2  thus  describes  the  method  adopted  by  the 
Alibamons  in  hunting  the  roe-deer :  "  An  Indian  takes 
the  head  of  a  roe-buck  and  dries  it ;  lie  then  carries  it 
with  him  into  the  woods,  where  he  covers  his  back 
with  the  skin  of  this  animal ;  he  puts  his  hand  into 
the  neck  of  the  dried  head,  taking  care  to  put  little 
hoops  under  the  skin  to  keep  it  firm  on  the  hand ;  he 
then  kneels  down,  and  in  that  attitude,  mimicking  the 
voice  of  these  creatures,  he  shews  the  head  ;  the  roe-deer 
are  deceived  by  it  and  come  very  near  the  hunters,  who 
are  sure  to  kill  them." 

As  the  woods  were  well  stocked  with  game,  so  also 
was  there  plenteous  supply  of  fishes  in  ponds,  lakes, 
rivers,  and  arms  of  the  sea.  Depending  for  subsistence 
upon  wild  animal,  bird,  and  fish,  the  natives  were  com- 
pelled to  devote  most  of  their  time  to  hunting  and  fish- 
ing. Certain  seasons  were  entirely  set  apart  to  these 
pursuits,  and  with  formal  ceremonies  and  solemn  invo- 
cations were  the  general  expeditions  in  quest  of  game 
inaugurated.  With  no  domesticated  animal  except  the 
dog,  they  were  not  entirely  improvident  of  the  future. 
Public  granaries s  there  were,  in  which  were  carefully 
stored  the  gathered  corn  and  native  fruits.  At  the 
appointed  moons4  the  men  assembled  for  hunting  and 
fishing,  often  departing  upon  long  journeys,  and  return- 
ing laden  with  well-dried  meat  and  the  skins  of  the 
slain. 

1  "  Brevis  Narratio,"  etc.,  plate  xxv.     Francofcrti  ad  Mwiium.    De  Bry,  anno 
1591. 

2  "  Travels  through  Louisiana,"  vol.  i.,  p.  259.     London,  1771. 

3  "Brevis  Narratio,"  plate  xxii. 

4  Generally  toward  the  end  of  October.    Bossu's  "  Travels  through  Louisiana," 
vol.  i.,  p.  259.     London,   1771. 


324  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

In  that  remote  period  when  rivers  and  "bays  were 
navigated  only  by  light  cypress  canoes  whose  paddles 
scarce  caused  a  quiver  among  the  pliant  reeds  which 
fringed  their  banks,  when  every  pond  and  swamp  was 
fenced  in  by  robust  trees  and  penetrated  by  huge  roots 
and  fallen  trunks  affording  ample  protection  to  the 
finny  tribe,  the  waters,  one  and  all,  were  doubtless  far 
more  replete  with  animal  life  than  they  are  at  the  pres- 
ent time.  The  appetites  and  the  more  skilful  contriv- 
ances of  a  superior  and  a  denser  population,  the  de- 
struction of  forests,  the  drainage  of  natural  reservoirs, 
and  the  noises  of  commerce,  have  tended  materially  to 
diminish  the  supply  of  fish.  So  plentiful  were  the  fishes 
in  the  ponds  and  shallow  puddles  which  were  encoun- 
tered along  the  line  of  De  Soto's  march,  that  they  were 
readily  killed  with  cudgels.  The  captive  Indians,  who, 
in  chains,  were  compelled  to  accompany  the  expedition, 
while  floundering  through  these  Jagoons,  so  disturbed 
the  mud  at  their  bottoms,  that  the  "fish  becoming 
stupefied,  would  swim  to  the  surface,  when  as  many 
were  taken  as  were  desired."  * 

Kibault  says,  as  he  ascended  a  goodly  and  great 
river  on  the  Florida  coast,  he  found  its  waters  "  boiling 
and  roaring  through  the  multitude  of  all  kinds  of  fish." 

For  three  or  four  months  in  the  year  the  Indians 
resorted  to  the  coast  and  subsisted  mainly  upon  oys- 
ters.9 Tribes  inhabiting  the  interior,  when  in  the 
spring  the  shad  were  running  up  the  Savannah  and 
other  Georgia  rivers,  would  encamp  upon  the  bluffs, 
and,  during   the   continuance   of  the   season,   devote 

1  "  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando   de  Soto,"  p.    121,   translated   by 
Buckingham  Smith.     New  York,  1866. 

2  "  Relation  of  Alvar   Nunez  Cabeca  de   Vaca,"   translate!  by  Buckingham 
Smith,  p.  79.     New  York,  1871. 


VARIOUS   METHODS    OF    CAPTURING     FISH.  325 

themselves  almost  exclusively  to  the  capture  of  these 
fishes.  The  unios  and  various  mussels  of  the  fresh- 
water streams  were  eagerly  collected  and  opened  with 
a  view  to  securing  the  pearls '  which  they  contained, 
and  for  the  purposes  of  food.  Physical  proofs  of  the 
habits  of  the  natives  in  this  regard  remain  to  the  pres- 
ent clay.  Some  of  the  islands  and  headlands  along 
the  coast  are  dotted  all  over  with  kitchen-refuse-piles  in 
which  the  shells  of  oysters,  clams,  and  conchs,  largely 
predominate.  Extended  artificial  deposits  of  a  similar 
character,  composed  of  fresh- water  shells,  are  still  ex- 
tant in  many  localities  where  the  flow  of  the  river 
is  so  interrupted  by  rocks  or  shallow  places  as  to  fur- 
nish opportunity  for  the  facile  construction  of  wears, 
or  permit  the  eager  sportsman  to  spear  the  fishes  as 
they  loitered  in  the  eddies  or  concealed  themselves  be- 
neath the  shadows  of  the  bowlders  rising  above  the 
level  of  the  brawling  current.  In  these  refuse-piles — 
the  accumulation  of  centuries — bones  of  large  fishes 
abound,  and  net-sinkers  are  not  infrequent. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  various  methods  em- 
ployed by  the  aborigines  for  the  capture  of  fish. 

We  have  the  authority  of  the  Knight  of  Elvas  for 
the  statement  that  fish-preserves  existed  among  the 
Southern  Indians. 

When  De  Soto  entered  Paeaha,  he  quartered  him- 
self in  the  town  where  the  cacique  was  accustomed  to 
reside.  It  was  enclosed  and  very  large.  In  its  towers 
and  palisade  were  many  loop-holes.  Much  dry  maize 
had  been  there  accumulated,  and  the  new  in  great 
quantity  was  growing  in  the  adjacent  fields.  Near  the 
enclosure  was  "  a  great  lake,  and  the  water  entered  a 

1  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  "  Conquete  de  la  Floride,"  trad,  par  Richelet.    Leide, 
1731,  tome  i.,  livre  2,  chap,  i.,  p.  296,  et  seq. 


32(3  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEEN   INDIANS. 

ditcli  that  well  nigh  went  round  the  town.1  From  the 
River  Grande  to  the  lake  was  a  canal  through  which 
the  fish  came  into  it,  and  where  the  Chief  kept  them  for 
his  eating  and  pastime.  With  nets  that  were  found  in 
the  place  as  many  were  taken  as  need  required ;  and, 
however  much  might  be  the  casting,  there  was  never 
any  lack  of  them.  In  the  many  other  lakes  about 
were  also  many  fish,  though  the  flesh  was  soft,  and 
none  of  it  so  s;ood  as  that  which  came  from  the  river." 9 

We  have  here,  as  has  already  been  suggested,  a 
probable  explanation  of  the  principal  purpose  the 
reservoirs  and  the  ditch  surrounding  that  remarkable 
group  of  mounds  near  the  Etowah  River,  on  Colo- 
nel Tumlin's  plantation,  were  designed  to  subserve. 
Through  the  mouth  of  that  canal  fishes  could  readily 
enter  from  the  river.  Once  in,  that  mouth  could  have 
been  closed  by  means  of  a  wicker-work  of  cane  or  split 
wood  so  as  to  prevent  their  escape.  Thus  introduced 
into  these  artificial  lakes,  by  a  very  simple  contrivance 
they  could  be  there  detained,  fed,  multiplied,  and  kept 
ready  for  daily  use.  By  means  of  nets  they  could  be 
fished  out  as  occasion  required.  If  it  be  true,  as  we 
have  surmised,  that  the  large  tumulus  was  a  temple  of 
the  sun,  it  may  be  that  this  canal  and  these  lakes  were 
at  great  labor  constructed  as  fish-preserves  for  the  par- 
ticular benefit  of  the  priests  who  ministered  and  the 
devotees  who  worshipped  there.  Similar  arrangements 
for  pisciculture  are  still  to  be  seen  in  other  localities 
within  the  present  geographical  limits  of  Georgia. 

Fishing  with  hook  and  line  seems  to  have  obtained 
to  a  very  limited  extent,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  re- 

1  Biedma  says  the  town  was  "  situated  on  a  plain,  well  fenced  about,  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  water-ditch  made  by  band." 

2  '•  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto,"  translated  by  Buckingham 
Smith,  p.  112,    New  York,  1866. 


VARIOUS   METHODS    OF    CAPTURING    FISH.  327 

markable  absence  of  any  thing  like  bone,  flint,  and 
shell  hooks  in  the  mounds  and  refuse-piles.  Very  few 
hooks  have  beeD  found,  so  far  as  our  information  ex- 
tends, and  they  were  made  of  bone. 

Fishes  were  often  captured  by  means  of  a  bright 
fire,1  kindled  in  the  canoe  which  was  paddled  by  night 
over  their  feeding-grounds.  Frightened,  blinded,  and 
at  the  same  time  attracted  by  the  light,  they  leaped 
toward  it,  and  in  doing  so  frequently  fell  into  the 
boat.  This  mode  was  particularly  successful  on  the 
coast,  and  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  customs  of 
that  region  will  bear  witness  that  to  this  day  many 
mullets  are  caught  in  this  manner  by  negroes  carrying 
torches  in  their  cypress  canoes. 

Of  the  Indians  inhabiting  to  the  south  of  Florida, 
it  is  said:2  "Besides  their  enjoyment  of  the  water, 
the  natives  take  abundance  of  mullet  from  it,  bream 
and  other  fish  that  breed  there,  as  well  as  kinds 
more  numerous  that  ascend  from  the  sea.  They  come 
over  the  bar,  by  the  mouth,  in  the  season  proper  to 
them  for  casting  their  spawn,  remaining  to  sport  in 
fresh  water  until  about  summer,  when  the  river  goes 
down.  This  is  the  principal  fishing  season.  Then  the 
people  of  the  towns,  bringing  great  bundles  of  bushes, 
gather  about  the  holes  and  pools  and  beat  the  water, 
when  the  fishes  in  the  depths  becoming  intoxicated 
from  the  sap,  ascend  to  the  surface  and  are  taken. 
Persons  receive  no  harm  from  the  poison  in  eating 
them."    This  method  of  intoxicating  fishes  by  pound- 


W  l  Loskiel  says:  "In  Carolina  the  Indians  frequently  use  fire  in  fishing.  A 
certain  kind  of  fish  will  even  leap  into  the  boats  which  have  fire  in  them." — 
("  History  of  the  Mission  of  the  United  Brethren,"  etc.,  p.  95.     London,  1794.) 

2  "  Relation  of  Alvar   Nuilez  Cabeca  de  Vaca,"    translated   by  Buckingham 
Smith,  p.  181.     N«w  York,  1871. 


328  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE   SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

ed  horse-chestnuts  and  various  roots  was  extensively 
adopted  by  the  Southern  tribes.1 

A  favorite  and  manly  mode  of  taking  fish  was  with 
the  bow  and  arrow,  and  with  the  dart  or  spear.  This 
savored  of  s]3ort,  and  afforded  ample  opportunity  for  the 
display  of  skill.  Father  Hennepin  pays  the  follow- 
ing compliment  to  the  dexterity  of  the  Southern  In- 
dians dwelling  "  upon  the  River  Meschasipi."  They 
"  are  very  subtil  and  have  such  lively  and  piercing 
Eyes  that  tho'  the  Fishes  glide  very  swiftly  in  the 
Waters,  yet  they  fail  not  to  kill  them  with  their  Darts, 
which  they  vigorously  thrust  a  little  before  into  the 
Water  when  they  shoot  out  of  their  Bow.  Moreover, 
they  have  long  Poles  with  sharp  Points  which  they  dart 
from  them  with  great  Accuracy,  because  of  their  being 
so  sharp  sighted ;  they  also  kill  great  Sturgeons  and 
Trouts,  which  are  seven  or  eight  foot  under  Water." 2 

Bartram3  gives  an  account  of  the  capture  of  a 
salmon-trout  weighing  about  fifteen  pounds,  by  a 
young  Indian.  "The  Indian,"  says  he,  "struck  this 
<  fish  with  a  reed  harpoon,  pointed  very  sharp,  barbed 
and  hardened  by  the  fire.  The  fish  lay  close  under  the 
steep  bank,  which  the  Indian  discovered  and  struck 
with  his  reed ;  instantly  the  fish  darted  off  with  it, 
while  the  Indian  pursued,  without  extracting  the  har- 
poon, and  with  repeated  thrusts  drowned  it  and  then 
draped  it  to  shore." 

no 

Lawson4  declares  that  the  hunters  of  the  interior 

^  were  very  expert  in  striking  sturgeon  and  rock-fish  or 

bass  when  they  came  up  the  rivers  to  spawn ;  and  to 

1  See  Adair's  "  History  of  the  American  Indians,''  p.  403.     London,  1775. 

2  "  A  Continuation  of  the  New  Discovery,"  etc.,  p.  102.     London,  1698. 

3  "  Travels  through  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia,"  etc.,  p.  44.    London, 
1792. 

4  "  History  of  Carolina,"  p.  339.     Raleigh  reprint,  1860. 


VARIOUS    METHODS    OF    CAPTURING    FISH.  329 

Dr.  Brickell ! — the  plagiarist — we  are  indebted  for  the 
ensuing  mention  of  this  particular  manner  of  fishing 
as  practised  by  the  Carolina  Indians :  "  They  have 
Fish-gigs  that  are  made  of  the  Reeds  or  Hollow  Canes  / 
these  they  cut  and  make  very  sharp,  with  two  Beards, 
and  taper  at  the  Point  like  a  Harpoon;  being  thus 
provided,  they  either  wade  into  the  Water,  or  go  into 
their  Canoes  and  paddle  about  the  Edges  of  the  Riv- 
ers or  Creeks,  striking  all  the  Fish  they  meet  with  in 
the  depth  of  five  or  six  Feet  Water,  or  as  far  as 
they  can  see  them ;  this  they  commonly  do  in  dark, 
calm  Nights,  and  whilst  one  attends  with  a  Light  made 
of  the  Pitch-pine,  the  other  with  his  Fish-gig  strikes 
and  kills  the  Fish.  It  is  diverting  to  see  them  fish 
after  this  manner,  which  they  sometimes  do  in  the 
Day;  how  dexterous  they  are  in  striking,  is  admirable, 
and  the  great  Quantities  they  kill  by  this  Method." 

Lawson  states  that  the  "  Indian  boys  go  in  the 
night,  and  one  holding  a  lightwood  torch,  the  other 
has  a  bow  and  arrows,  and  the  fire  directing  him  to  see 
the  fish,  he  shoots  them  with  the  arrows  ;  and  thus 
they  kill  a  great  many  of  the  smaller  fry,  and  some- 
times, pretty  large  ones."  2 

In  plate  xiii.  of  the  "  Admiranda  Narratio "  six 
Virginia  Indians  are  represented  wading  in  the  water 
and  busily  engaged  in  spearing  fish.  Three  are  dis- 
covered in  plate  iv.,  in  successful  pursuit  of  a  school  of 
fishes,  while  others  in  canoes  are  similarly  occupied. 
Plate  xxxvi.  of  the  "  Brevis  Narratio  "  assures  us  that 
the  Florida  Indians  were  addicted  to  the  same  sport. 

In  1805  Barker  observed  the  Chickasaws  in  Duck 
River,  pursuing,  in  their  canoes,  the  large  fishes  which 

1  "Natural  History  of  North  Carolina,"  etc.,  p.  365.     Dublin,  1*73?. 

2  "History  of  Carolina,"  etc.,  p.  341.     Raleigh  reprint,  1860. 


330  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE   SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

swarmed  in  that  stream,  and  taking  great  numbers  of 
them  with  spears  made  of  the  long  canes  which  grew  in 
the  river-bottoms.  These  spears,  says  the  narrator, 
"  were  sixteen  or  eighteen  feet  in  length,  sharpened 
with  a  knife  into  a  lancet  shape  at  one  end,  and  thrown 
with  great  dexterity  twenty  or  thirty  feet ;  seldom 
failing  to  pierce  a  fish  through  at  every  throw.  This 
was  doubtless  an  invention  of  great  antiquity,  and 
practised  by  their  fathers  ages  before  the  use  of  iron 
was  known  amongst  them." — ("  American  Pioneer," 
vol.  i.,  p.  143.     Cincinnati,  1844.) 

It  was  upon  their  wears,  traps,  set-nets,  and  me- 
chanical contrivances  of  these  sorts,  however,  that  the 
natives  largely  depended  for  a  constant  and  liberal 
supply  of  fish.  Their  use,  in  some  form  or  other,  was 
general.  Captain  Bibault  informs  us  that  the  Indians 
of  May  River  put  as  presents  into  his  boats  "  sundry 
fishes  which  with  mervelous  speed  they  run  to  take  in 
their  packs  made  in  the  water  with  great  reeds,  so  well 
and  cunningly  set  together  after  the  fashion  of  a  Laba- 
rynthe,  or  Maze,  with  so  many  turns  and  crooks  as  it  is 
impossible  to  do  it  without  much  consideration  and 
industry." '  The  Carolina  Indians  are  said  to  have 
V  taken  the  sturgeon  in  snares  such  as  are  used  in  Europe 
for  the  capture  of  pike.  "  The  herrings,"  according  to 
Surveyor-General  Lawson,  "  in  March  and  April  run 
a  great  way  up  the  rivers  and  fresh  streams  to  spawn, 
where  the  savages  make  great  wares  with  hedges  that 
hinder  their  passage,  only  in  the  middle  where  an  arti- 
ficial pond  is  made  to  take  them  in  so  that  they  can- 
not return.     This  method  is  in  use  all  over  the  fresh 

1  "  The  Whole  and  True  Discoverye  of  Terra  Florida,  etc.,  etc.,  written  in 
Frenche  by  Captain  Ribaulde,  the  first  that  wholly  discovered  the  same,  and  now 
newly  set  forth  in  the  Engliih,  the  xxx  of  May,  1563.  Prynted  at  London  by 
Rowland  Hall  for  Thomas  Hackett." 


FISH-TRAPS    OR    WEARS.  331 

streams  to  catch  trout  and  the  other  species  of  fish 
which  those  parts  afford."  ' 

Dr.  Brickell a  is  rather  more  definite  in  his  descrip- 
tion, and  advises  us  that  these  wears  were  constructed 
of  "  long  poles  or  hollow  canes."  3 

In  plate  xiii.  of  the  "  Admiranda  Narratio,"  we  find 
a  distinct  representation  of  one  of  these  fish-traps,  with 
extended  wings ;  one  of  which  reaches  the  shore,  and 
the  other  far  out  into  the  water.  It  is  made  of  canes 
or  small  poles  firmly  stuck  in  the  mud,  so  as  to  pre- 
serve an  upright  j>osition.  Placed  close  to  each  other, 
and  rising  a  few  feet  above  the  water-level,  they  are 
securely  fastened  together  by  parallel  ropes  or  withes, 
thus  forming  a  sort  of  hedge  or  rustic  fence  through 
which  the  fishes  are  unable  to  force  a  passage.  In  the 
middle  is  an  opening  leading  into  a  circular  enclosure. 
This,  by  a  circuitous  opening,  communicates  with  a 
second  pen,-  and  this  in  like  manner  with  a  third,  and 
that,  in  turn,  in  a  similar  way  with  a  fourth — each 
somewhat  smaller  than  the  former.4  Two  Indians  are 
seen  in  a  canoe  at  the  opening  of  the  wear.  The  one 
in  the  bow  with  a  scoop-net  is  dipping  up  the  fish  in 
the  first  pen,  while  numerous  other  fishes  are  figured 
making  their  way  into  the  other  enclosures,  whence, 
for  them,  there  can  be  little  or  no  hope  of  escape.  The 
explanatory  text  is  as  follows :  "  Egregiam  etia  habent 
piscandi  in  fluminibus  rationem  :  cum  enim  ferro  & 
chalybe  careant,  arundinibus  aut  oblongis  virgis  piscis 
cuiusdam  cancro  marino  similis  caudam  concauam  pro 

1  "  History  of  Carolina,"  etc.,  p.  339.     Raleigh  reprint,  1860. 

2  "Natural  History  of  North  Carolina,"  etc.,  p.  366.     Dublin,  1737. 

3  "  Cabeca  de  Vaca  mentions  wears  made  of  cane.'1'1     Translation  of  Bucking- 
ham Smith,  p.  75.     New  York,  1871. 

4  Here  we  have  an  explanation  of  what  Captain  Ribault  calls  "  a  Labaryuthe 
or  Maze  with  so  many  turns  and  crooks." 


332  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

cuspicle  imponunt,  quibus  noctu  vel  interdiu  pisces 
figunt,  &  in  suas  cymbas  congerunt :  seel  aliorum  pis- 
cium  spinis  &  spiculis  uti  norunt.  Baculis  etiam  seu 
virgultis  in  aquam  defixis  tegetes  conficiunt,  quas  inter- 
texentes  in  angustum  semper  contrahunt,  ut  ex  fignra 
apparet,  nunquam  apud  nos  conspecta  est  tarn  subtilis 
pisces  capiendi  ratio,  quorum  varia  genera  istic  in  flumi- 
nibus  reperiuntur,  nostris  dis  similia  &  boni  admodum 
succi." 

By  some  of  tbe  illustrations  accompanying  the 
"  Brevis  Narratio,"  *  we  are  persuaded  that  similar 
wears  were  constructed  by  the  Florida  Indians. 

Loskiel2  describes  a  particular  mode  of  fishing 
wbicli  was  probably  adopted  in  some  of  the  Georgia 
rivers :  "  When  the  shad  fish  (clupea  alosa)  come  up 
the  rivers,  the  Indians  run  a  dam  of  stones  across  the 
stream,  where  its  depth  will  admit  of  it,  not  in  a 
straight  line,  but  in  two  parts  verging  towards  each 
other  in  an  angle.  An  opening  is  left  in  the  middle 
for  the  water  to  run  off.  At  this  opening  they  place 
a  large  box,  the  bottom  of  which  is  full  of  holes.  They 
then  make  a  rope  of  the  twigs  of  the  wild  vine,  reach- 
ing across  the  stream,  upon  which  boughs  of  about  six- 
feet  in  length  are  fastened  at  the  distance  of  about  two 
fathoms  from  each  other.  A  party  is  detached  about 
a  mile  above  the  dam  with  this  rope  and  its  append- 
ages, who  begin  to  move  gently  down  the  current,  some 
guiding  one,  some  the  opposite  end,  whilst  others  keep 
the  branches  from  sinking  by  supporting  the  rope  in 
the  middle  with  wooden  forks.  Thus  they  proceed, 
frightening  the  fishes  into  the  opening  left  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  dam,  where  a  number  of  Indians  are  placed 

1  Plate  iii. 

5  "History  of  the  Mission  of  the  United  Brethren,"  etc.,  p.  95.  London,  1794. 


AD  AIR'S    ACCOUNT    OF   INDIAN    FISHING.  333 

on  each  side,  who,  standing  upon  the  two  legs  of  the 
angles,  drive  the  fishes  with  poles,  and  an  hideous  noise, 
through  the  opening  into  the  above-mentioned  box  or 
chest.  Here  they  lie,  the  water  running  off  through 
the  holes  in  the  bottom,  and  other  Indians  stationed 
on  each  side  of  the  chest,  take  them  out,  kill  them  and 
fill  their  canoes.  By  this  contrivance  they  sometimes 
catch  above  a  thousand  shad  and  other  fish  in  half  a 
day." 

Mr.  Adair's  summary !  of  the  various  methods 
adopted  by  the  Southern  Indians,  and  particularly  the 
Georgia  tribes,  in  their  practice  of  the  piscatorial  art,  is 
so  interesting,  minute,  and  appropriate,  that  we  make 
no  apology  for  repeating  it  in  extenso : 

"Their  method  of  fishing  may  be  placed  among 
their  diversions,  but  this  is  of  the  profitable  kind. 
When  they  see  large  fish  near  the  surface  of  the  water, 
they  fire  directly  upon  them,  sometimes  only  with  pow- 
der, which  noise  and  surprize,  however,  so  stupifies 
them  that  they  instantly  turn  up  their  bellies  and  float 
atop,  when  the  fisherman  secures  them.  If  they  shoot 
at  fish  not  deep  in  the  water,  either  with  an  arrow  or 
bullet,  they  aim  at  the  lower  part  of  the  belly,  if  they 
are  near ;  and  lower,  in  like  manner,  according  to  the 
distance,  which  seldom  fails  of  killing.  In  a  dry  sum- 
mer season,  they  gather  horse-chesnuts  and  different 
sorts  of  roots,  which,  having  pOunded  pretty  fine,  and 
steeped  a  while  in  a  trough,  they  scatter  this  mixture 
over  the  surface  of  a  middle-sized  pond,  and  stir  it 
about  with  poles,  till  the  water  is  sufficiently  impreg- 
nated with  the  intoxicating  bittern.  The  fish  are 
soon  inebriated  and  make  to  the  surface  of  the  water, 
with  their  bellies  uppermost.     The  fishers  gather  them 

1  "  History  of  the  American  Indians,"  pp.  402-405.     London,  1765. 


334  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE   SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

in  baskets,  and  barbicue  the  largest,  covering  them 
carefully  over  at  night  to  preserve  them  from  the  sup- 
posed putrifying  influence  of  the  moon.  It  seems  that 
fish  catched  in  this  manner  are  not  poisoned,  but  only 
stupified ;  for  they  prove  very  wholesome  food  to  us, 
who  frequently  use  them.  By  experiments,  when  they 
are  speedily  moved  into  good  water,  they  revive  in  a 
few  minutes. 

"  The  Indians  have  the  art  of  catching  fish  in  lon^ 
crails,  made  with  canes  and  hiccory  splinters,  tapering 
to  a  point.  They  lay  these  at  a  fall  of  water,  where 
stones  are  placed  in  two  sloping  lines  from  each  bank, 
till  they  meet  together  in  the  middle  of  the  rapid 
stream,  where  the  entangled  fish  are  soon  drowned. 
Above  such  a  place  I  have  known  them  to  fasten  a 
wreath  of  long  grape-vines  together  to  reach  across  the 
river,  with  stones  fastened  at  proper  distances  to  rake 
the  bottom :  they  will  swim  a  mile  with  it  whooping 
and  plunging  all  the  way,  driving  the  fish  before  them 
into  their  large  cane  pots.1  With  this  draught,  which 
is  a  very  heavy  one,  they  make  a  town  feast,  or  feast  of 
love,  of  which  every  one  partakes  in  the  most  social 
manner,  and  afterward  they  dance  together,  singing 
Halelu-yah,  and  the  rest  of  their  usual  praises  to  the 
divine  essence,  for  his  bountiful  gifts  to  the  beloved 
people.  Those  Indians  who  are  unacquainted  with 
the  use  of  barbed  irons,  are  very  expert  in  striking 
large  fish  out  of  their  canoes,  with  long  sharp-pointed 
green  canes,  which  are  well  bearded,  and  hardened  in 
the  fire.  In  Savannah  River  I  have  often  accompanied 
them  in  killing  sturgeons  with  those  green  swamp 
harpoons,  and  which  they  did  with  much  pleasure  and 
ease ;  for  when  we  discovered  the  fish,  we  soon  thrust 

1  See  also  "  Memoirs  of  Lieutenant  Timberlake,"  p.  43.     LomloD,  1765. 


ADAIr's    ACCOUNT    OF   INDIAN   FISHING.  335 

into  tlieir  bodies  one  of  the  harpoons.  As  the  fish 
would  immediately  strike  deep,  and  rush  away  to  the 
bottom  very  rapidly,  their  strength  was  soon  expended 
by  their  violent  struggles  against  the  buoyant  force  of 
the  green  darts :  as  soon  as  the  top  end  of  them  ap- 
peared again  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  we  made  up 
to  them,  renewed  the  attack,  and  in  like  manner  con- 
tinued it  till  we  secured  our  game. 

"  They  have  a  surprising  method  of  fishing  under 
the  edges  of  rocks  that  stand  over  deep  places  of  the 
river.  There,  they  pull  off  their  red  breeches,  or  their 
long  slip  of  Stroud  cloth,  and  wrapping  it  round  their 
arm,  so  as  to  reach  to  the  lower  part  of  the  palm  of  their 
right  hand,  they  dive  under  the  rock  where  the  large 
cat-fish  lie  to  shelter  themselves  from  the  scorching 
beams  of  the  sun,  and  to  watch  for  prey :  as  soon  as 
those  fierce  aquatic  animals  see  that  tempting  bait, 
they  immediately  seize  it  with  the  greatest  violence  in 
order  to  swallow  it.  Then  is  the  time  for  the  diver  to 
improve  the  favorable  opportunity  :  he  accordingly 
opens  his  hand,  seizes  the  voracious  fish  by  his  -tender 
parts,  hath  a  sharp  struggle  with  it  against  the  crevices 
of  the  rock,  and  at  last  brings  it  safe  ashore.  Except 
the  Choktah,  all  our  Indians,  both  male  and  female, 
above  the  state  of  infancy,  are  in  the  watery  element 
nearly  equal  to  amphibious  animals,  by  practice  :  and 
from  the  experiments  necessity  has  forced  them  to,  it 
seems  as  if  few  were  endued  with  such  strong  natural 
abilities — very  few  can  equal  them  in  their  wild  situa- 
tion of  life. 

"  There  is  a  favorite  method  among  them  of  fishing 
with  hand-nets.  The  nets  are  about  three  feet  deep, 
and  of  the  same  diameter  at  the  opening,  made  of 
hemp,  and  knotted  after  the  usual  manner  of  our  nets. 


336  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTIIEEN   INDIANS. 

On  eacli  side  of  the  mouth  they  tie  very  securely  a 
strong  elastic  green  cane,  to  which  the  ends  are  fast- 
ened. Prepared  with  these,  the  warriors  abreast  jump 
in  at  the  end  of  a  long  pond,  swimming  under  water, 
with  their  net  stretched  open  with  both  hands,  and 
the  canes  in  a  horizontal  position.  In  this  manner 
they  will  continue  either  till  their  breath  is  expended 
by  the  want  of  respiration,  or  till  the  net  is  so  ponder- 
ous as  to  force  them  to  exonerate  it  ashore,  or  in  a 
basket  fixt  in  a  proper  place  for  that  purpose — by 
removing  one  hand  the  canes  instantly  spring  together. 
I  have  been  engaged  half  a  day  at  a  time  with  the  old 
friendly  Chikkasah,  and  half  drowned  in  the  diversion 
— when  any  of  us  was  so  unfortunate  as  to  catch  water- 
snakes  in  our  sweep,  and  emptied  them  ashore,  we  had 
the  ranting  voice  of  our  friendly  %>osse  comitatus,  whoop- 
ing against  us  till  another  party  was  so  unlucky  as 
to  meet  with  the  like  misfortune.  During  this  exercise 
the  women  are  fishing  ashore  with  coarse  baskets,  to 
catch  the  fish  that  escape  our  nets.  At  the  end  of  our 
friendly  diversion,  we  cheerfully  return  home,  and  in 
an  innocent  and  friendly  manner  eat  together,  studious- 
ly diverting  each  other  on  the  incidents  of  the  day,  and 
make  a  cheerful  night." 

It  appears  that  the  Southern  Indians  were  fond  of 
crawfish  as  an  article  of  food.  Selecting  a  stream  fre- 
quented by  such  fishes,  they  angled  for  them  in  the 
following  manner :  Slips  of  half-roasted  or  barbecued 
venison  were  strung,  about  six  inches  apart,  upon  reeds 
**  sharpened  at  one  end.  Thus  baited,  a  great  many  of 
these  reeds  were  stuck  in  the  bed  of  the  brook.  Re- 
maining near,  the  Indians  watched  these  baited  reeds, 
pulling  them  up  at  intervals,  shaking  into  baskets 
the  crawfish  adhering  to  the  bits  of  meat,  and  then  re- 


NET-SINKERS    AND   FISHING-PLUMMETS.  337 

placing  them  in  the  water.  "  By  this  method,"  says 
Lawson,  "  they  will  in  a  little  time  catch  several  bush- 
els.1' Blackmoor's  teeth  were  taken  in  great  quantities 
by  means  of  oysters  tied  to  strings.  The  coast  Indians, 
carrying  them  into  the  interior,  traded  them  away  to 
remote  tribes  by  whom  they  were  held  in  much  esteem.1 

In  addition  to  the  modes  already  enumerated,  it 
may  be  safely  asserted  that  nets  were  also  used  by  the 
natives  for  the  capture  offish.  Of  their  peculiar  shape 
and  construction  we  have  no  specific  account.  Remem- 
bering, however,  the  ingenuity  displayed  by  these  peo- 
ples in  the  fabrication  of  garments  from  the  fibres  of 
trees,  mats  from  rushes,  and  ornamental  coverings  from, 
feathers,  it  would  be  singular  if  in  the  silk-grass,  the 
inner  bark  of  the  mulberry,  and  other  natural  sub- 
stances of  this  region,  they  had  not  found  convenient 
materials  for  the  manufacture  of  substantial  nets  and 
lines.  Their  former  existence  is  indicated  by  the  pres- 
ence of  sinkers  and  fishing-plummets. 

Of  the  sinkers,  there  are  two  varieties — perforated, 
and  notched  or  grooved.  Regarding  them  as  a  whole, 
we  may  state  that  they  were  usually  made  of  soap- 
stone,  sometimes  of  slate,  rarely  of  flint  or  hard  stone, 
and  occasionally  of  clay.  All  of  the  perforated  sort 
that  I  have  seen,  with  one  exception,  were  formed 
either  of  soap-stone  or  of  clay.  Consisting  generally 
of  flat  or  rounded  pieces  of  soapstone  irregular  in 
shaj)e,  they  vary  in  weight  from  scarcely  more  than  an 
ounce  to  a  pound  and  upward.  The  perforations  are 
from  a  quarter  of  an  inch  to  an  inch  in  diameter,  and 
are  indifferently  located  either  in  the  centre  or  near 
the  edge  of  the  stone.     Of  this  variety,  Figs.  1,  2,  3, 

1  See  "  Lawson's  History  of  Carolina,"  p.  340.    Raleigh  reprint,  1860.     Brick- 
ell's  "  Natural  History  of  North  Carolina,"  p.  3(  1.    Dublin,  1737. 


338  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

4,  and  5,  Plate  XIX.,  may  be  taken  as  typical  speci- 
mens. In  this  connection  we  would  refer  to  an  object 
(Fig.  6,  Plate  XIX.)  of  soap-stone,  well  worked  in  every 
part,  which  was  found  in  a  relic-bed  on  Price's  Island, 
in  the  Savannah  River,  opposite  Columbia  County, 
and  associated  with  several  perforated  net-sinkers  of 
similar  material.  It  is  eight  inches  and  a  half  in 
length,  six  inches  and  a  half  broad  at  the  widest  part, 
and  about  three-quarters  of  an  inch  in  thickness.  The 
perforation  is  three-quarters  of  an  inch  in  diameter. 
It  is  suggested  that  this  article  should  be  classed  with 
net-sinkers.  Little  labor  was  bestowed  upon  the  manu- 
facture of  the  notched  sinkers  (Figs.  7,  8,  and  11,  Plate 
XIX.),  the  only  object  being  to  rudely  break  or  chip 
the  material  into  convenient  size,  and  then  notch  it  at 
the  opposite  sides  or  ends  so  that  it  could  be  securely 
attached  by  means  of  a  vine,  a  strap  of  deer-skin,  or  a 
thong  of  some  kind.  Such  plummets  are,  as  a  rule, 
bulky,  and  were  probably  used  to  weigh  down  the 
long  grape-vine  ropes l  with  which  the  Indians  were 
wont  to  drag  the  rivers  in  driving  the  fishes  before 
them  into  their  large  cane  traps.  The  noise  of  these 
stones  rolling  along  the  bottom  would  have  materially 
assisted  in  frightening  the  fishes  from  their  hiding- 
places  and  in  compelling  them  to  swim  toward  the  de- 
sired point. 

Other  fishing-plummets 2  (Fig.  10,  Plate  XIX.)  have 
a  single  groove  around  the  middle,  while  others  still 
(Fig.  9,  Plate  XIX.)  have  two  or  more  grooves  inter- 

1  See  Adair's  "  History  of  the  American  Indians,"  p.  403.     London,  l'ftS. 

2  Prof.  Rau  has  in  his  collection  net-sinkers,  notched  and  grooved,  found  near 
Muncy,  on  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna  River.  I  have  seen  similar  ones  from 
the  shores  of  Rhode  Island.  These  types  are  also  represented  in  the  islets  and 
reefs  of  the  west  coast  of  Sweden  (Nilsson's  "  Stone  Age,"  p.  26,  plate  ii.,  Figs.  32, 
34,  35,  London,  1868),  and  in  other  localities  in  Europe. 


AM  PHUTOLITHOGRAPHICCO  NYAOSBORNES PROCESS' 


NET-SINKERS. NETS,  339 

secting  each  other  at  right  angles.  These  grooves  are 
carelessly  cut  or  pecked,  and  are  intended  to  facilitate 
the  attachment.  Fig.  12;  Plate  XIX.,  illustrates  a  more 
carefully-wrought  kind  of  plummet,  which  may  have 
been  employed  to  weight  the  hand-line  in  fishing  with 
a  hook. 

These  sinkers  abound  along  the  banks  of  the  Savan- 
nah River  above  Augusta,  and  are  found  upon  the 
bluffs  of  other  streams  where  the  Indians  habitually 
congregated  for  the  purpose  of  fishing.  Near  the  con- 
fluence of  Great  Kiokee  Creek  and  the  Savannah  River 
an  extended  kitchen-refuse-pile  was  cut  in  two  and  laid 
bare,  some  years  since,  by  a  heavy  freshet.  Hundreds 
of  these  perforated  and  notched  sinkers  were  there 
unearthed,  showing  the  great  quantities  manufactured 
and  used  by  the  natives  at  this  point. 

In  his  account  of  the  fish-preserve  near  the  village 
of  the  Cacique  of  Pacaha,  the  Gentleman  of  Elvas  inti- 
mates that  cast-nets ,  were  there  made  and  used  by  the 
natives.  Cabeca  de  Vaca,  on  more  than  one  occasion, 
alludes  to  the  existence  of  nets,  and  it  may  be  that  the 
smaller  kinds  both  of  the  perforated,  and  grooved  or 
notched  plummets,  served  as  net-sinkers.  It  is  not 
improbable  that  the  Southern  Indians  manufactured 
and  fished  with  set  or  gill  nets,  which  would  have 
proved  very  effective  in  the  capture  of  shad.  In  that 
event  these  large  plummets  would  have  answered  well 
as  weights  to  keep  the  nets  in  proper  position.  In 
plate  xiii.  of  the  "  Admiranda  Narratio  "  two  forms  of 
nets  are  figured;  one,  the  ordinary  dip  or  scoop  net, 
and  the  other,  conical-shaped,  its  apex  terminating  in  a 
long  handle.     The  latter  was  made  of  cane  or  split 

1  "  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto,"  translated  by  Buckingham 
Smith,  p.  112.     New  York,  1866. 


340  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTIIEKN   INDIANS. 

Wood — the  longitudinal  ribs,  after  leaving  the  handle, 
expanding  at  the  bottom,  where  they  were  kept  in 
place  by  means  of  circular  and  parallel  cords  or  hoops 
of  cane,  thereby  forming  a  stiff  enclosure,  open  beneath, 
which  could  be  thrust  over  a  fish  or  crab  in  shallow 
water.  Thus  detained,  the  animal  could  not  escape, 
and  was  subject  to  immediate  manucaption.  Nowhere, 
so  far  as  our  personal  information  goes,  have  either 
cast-nets  or  trolling-nets  been  particularly  mentioned 
or  described  by  the  early  narrators.  In  the  present 
state  of  the  inquiry,  it  does  not  become  us,  however,  to 
say  that  such  nets  were  not  in  use  among  the  Southern 
Indians.  The  probability  is  that  they  did  have  some 
such  contrivances.  We  would  suggest,  nevertheless, 
that  the  principal  office  of  the  plummets  and  sinkers 
we  have  been  examining  was  either  to  assist  in  steady- 
ing and  anchoring  the  traps,  or  to  act  as  weights  for 
set-nets ;  or,  what  is  most  likely,  to  carry  to  the  bot- 
tom the  long  grape-vine  ropes  with  which  the  natives 
dragged  the  streams  when  they  wished  to  rout  the 
fishes  from  their  lurking-places  and  drive  them  into 
their  cane  labyrinths  or  wears. 

Many  of  these  sinkers  consist  simply  of  water- worn 
pebbles  or  irregular  fragments  of  rock  rudely  notched 
around  the  centre,  and  sometimes  longitudinally  also. 
Little  labor  was  expended  save  in  the  selection  of 
stones  of  proper  sizes,  and  in  pecking  such  grooves  as 
would  permit  secure  attachment  to  the  upright  poles 
of  the  wears,  the  ends  of  fishing-lines,  and  to  the  short 
grape-vines  depending  from  the  stout  mother-vine,  with 
which  the  aborigines  were  wont  to  drag  the  rivers. 
Some  of  the  heavier  and  rougher  sort  may  properly  be 
denominated  anchors  for  wears  and  stationary  nets,  or 
fish-traps. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

Discoidal  Stones. — Clmngke  Game. 

In  his  most  interesting  and  valuable  historical 
sketch  of  Germany,  Tacitus  '  mentions  the  fact  that  the 
ancient  Germans  were  so  passionately  addicted  to  a 
game  of  chance  that,  when  all  their  property  had  been 
gambled  away,  the  desperate  players  would  hazard 
upon  a  final  throw  even  their  personal  liberty. 

With  almost  equal  desperation,  if  we  may  credit 
Adair,  did  the  Cherokees  pursue  their  national  game 
of  Chukgke.  After  describing  their  ball-playing,  he 
states  :  "  The  warriors  have  another  favorite  game 
called  Chwngke,  which,  with  propriety  of  language, 
may  be  called  '"Running  hard  labour.'  They  have  near 
their  state-house  a  square  piece  of  ground  well  cleaned, 
and  fine  sand  is  carefully  strewed  over  it,  when  requi- 
site, to  promote  a  swifter  motion  to  what  they  throw 
along  the  surface.  Only  one  or  two  on  a  side  play  at 
this  ancient  game.  They  have  a  stone  about  two 
fingers  broad  at  the  edge,  and  two  spans  round  ;  each 
party  has  a  pole  of  about  eight  feet  long,  smooth,  and 
tapering  at  each  end,  the  points  flat.     They   set  off 

1  "C.  Cornelii  Taciti  Opera  omnia,  ad  fidern  editionis  Orelliar.ae,"  torn,  ii.,  p. 
243.     Oxonii,  1851. 


342  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

abreast  of  each  other  at  six  }Tards  from  the  end  of  the 
play-ground  ;  then  one  of  them  hurls  the  stone  on  its 
edge,  in  as  direct  a  line  as  he  can,  a  considerable  dis- 
tance toward  the  middle  of  the  other  end  of  the  square : 
when  they  have  ran  a  few  yards,  each  darts  his  pole 
anointed  with  bear's  oil,  with  a  proper  force,  as  near  as 
he  can  guess  in  proportion  to  the  motion  of  the  stone, 
that  the  end  may  lie  close  to  the  stone :  when  this  is 
«  the  case,  the  person  counts  two  of  the  game,  and,  in 
proportion  to  the  nearness  of  the  poles  to  the  mark, 
one  is  counted,  unless  by  measuring,  both  are  found  to 
be  at  an  equal  distance  from  the  stone.  In  this  manner 
the  players  will  keep  running  most  part  of  the  day,  at 
half  speed,  under  the  violent  heat  of  the  sun,  staking 
their  silver  ornaments,  their  nose-,  finger-,  and  ear-rings  ; 
their  breast-,  arm-,  and  wrist-plates,  and  even  all  their 
wearing-apparel,  except  that  which  barely  covers  their 
middle.  All  the  American  Indians  are  much  addicted 
to  this  game,  which  to  us,  appears  to  be  a  task  of  stu- 
pid drudgery  :  it  seems,  however,  to  be  of  early  origin 
when  their  forefathers  used  diversions  as  simple  as  their 
manners.  The  hurling-stones  they  use  at  present  were, 
time  immemorial,  rubbed  smooth  on  the  rocks,  and 
with  prodigious  labour ;  they  are  kept  with  the  strictest 
religions  care  from  one  generation  to  another,  and  are 
exempted  from  being  buried  with  the  dead.  They 
belong  to  the  town  where  they  are  used,  and  are  care- 
fully preserved."  l  Physical  traces  exist  to  this  day, 
in  various  portions  of  Georgia,  denoting  the  carefully- 
prepared  sj3aces  or  areas  dedicated  in  the  olden  time 
to  the  uses  of  this  game.  These  are  parallelogrammic  in 
shape,  slightly  elevated,  and  are  from  sixty  to  ninety 
feet  in  length,  and  about  half  as  wide.     When  Adair 

1  "  ffistory  of  the  American  Indians,"  etc.,  p.  401,  el  seq.     London,  1VY5. 


DISCOIDAL    STONES.  343 

says  that  these  "  hurling-stones "  were  kept  with  the 
utmost  religious  care,  from  one  generation  to  another, 
and  were  exempt  from  inhumation  with  the  dead,  he 
states  a  fact  which  was  the  result  of  his  extended  per- 
sonal observation.  His  assertion,  however,  is  not  en- 
tirely correct.  One  of  the  finest  discoidal  stones  the 
writer  has  ever  seen,  was  taken  from  a  mound  in  Cass 
County,  near  the  Etowah  River,  about  thirty  feet  below 
the  upper  surface  of  the  tumulus.  A  similar  relic  lay 
touching  it.  They  had  both  been  placed  on  edge,  and 
at  right  angles  to  each  other.  .  Above  them  was  a 
layer  of  human  bones  in  a  decomposed  state.  From  a 
small  sepulchral  mound  on  Pope's  plantation,  in  the 
Oostenaula  Valley,  we  obtained  a  discoidal  stone  of 
ferruginous  quartz,  almost  the  counterpart  of  those 
just  alluded  to.  A  little  more  than  a  year  ago,  a 
freshet  in  the  Oconee  River  carried  away  a  portion  of 
a  mound  which  stood  upon  its  bank,  not  far  from 
Athens,  and  in  doing  so  washed  out  a  discoidal  stone 
of  quartz,  hollowed  out  on  both  sides  to  the  depth  of 
an  inch,  five  inches  in  diameter,  carefully  polished  and 
perfect  in  every  particular.  These  may  be  exceptional 
cases,  but  they  are  worthy  of  note.  In  view  of  the 
special  esteem  in  which  such  articles  must  have  been 
held,  remembering  the  protracted  labor  involved  in 
their  manufacture,  and  mindful  of  the  universal  fond- 
ness cherished  by  the  natives  for  the  game  in  which 
they  were  thrown,  we  can  readily  believe  that  these 
discoidal  stones  were  carefully  preserved,  and,  because 
of  their  great  value,  excused  from  sepulture  with  the 
general  dead.  If  it  be  true,  as  some  have  asserted, 
that  they  were  regarded  as  the  common  property  of  a 
town  or  community,  we  have  in  this  circumstance  ad- 
ditional reason  for  supposing  that  they  should  have 


344  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

escaped  interment,  except,  perhaps,  with  some  distin- 
guished person  or  noted  player  of  the  game. 

While  enumerating  the  principal  sports  of  the  In- 
dians of  Georgia  and  Florida,  Captain  Bernard  Ro- 
mans1 makes  the  following  specific  mention  of  the 
unique  and  absorbing  game  whose  peculiarities  are 
engaging  our  present  attention :  "  Their  favorite  game 
of  chunke  is  a  plain  proof  of  the  evil  consequences  of  a 
violent  passion  for  gaming  upon  all  kinds,  classes  and 
orders  of  men;  at  this  they  play  from  morning  till 
night  with  an  unwearied  application,  and  they  bet 
high :  here  you  may  see  a  savage  come  and  bring  all 
his  skins,  stake  them  and  lose  them ;  next  his  pipe,  his 
beads,  trinkets,  and  ornaments ;  at  last,  his  blanket  and 
Mother  garment,  and  even  all  their  arms;  and,  after  all 
it  is  not  uncommon  for  them  to  go  home,  borrow  a  gun 
and  shoot  themselves.  .  .  .  The  manner  of  playing  this 
game  is  thus :  They  make  an  alley  of  about  two  hun- 
dred feet  in  length,  where  a  very  smooth  caly  ground 
is  laid,  which  when  dry  is  very  hard ;  they  play  two 
together,  having  each  a  streight  pole  of  about  fifteen 
feet  long;  one  holds  a  stone,  which  is  in  shape  of  a 
truck,  which  he  throws  before  him  over  this  alley,  and 
the  instant  of  its  departure  they  set  off  and  run  ;  in 
running  they  cast  their  poles  after  the  stone ;  he  that 
did  not  throw  it  endeavors  to  hit  it,  the  other  strives 
to  strike  the  pole  of  his  antagonist  in  its  flight  so  as 
to  prevent  its  hitting  the  stone;  if  the  first  should 
strike  the  stone,  he  counts  one  for  it,  and  if  the  other 
by  the  dexterity  of  his  cast  should  prevent  the  pole 
:>f  his  opponent  hitting  the  stone,  he  counts  one,  but 
should  both  miss  their  aim,  the  throw  is  renewed: 

1  "  A  Concise  Natural  History  of  E.ist  and  West  Florida,"  etc.,  pp.  79,  SO. 
New  York,  m5. 


THE    CHUNGKE    GAME.  345 

and  in  case  a  score  is  won,  the  winner  casts  the  stone 
and  eleven  is  up ;  they  hurl  this  stone  and  pole  with 
wonderful  dexterity  and  violence,  and  fatigue  them- 
selves much  at  it." 

In  describing  the  chunk-yards  in  vogue  among  the 
Creeks,  Bartram  expresses  the  opinion  that  they  were 
of  very  ancient  date,  and  not  the  work  of  the  modern 
Indians.  It  has  been  supposed,  and  apparently  with 
very  good  reason,  that  these  areas  were  chiefly  devoted 
to  the  practice  of  this  favorite  game ;  and  that  instead 
of  calling  them  chunk-yards,  we  ought  properly  to 
denominate  them  cliungke-yards.1 

According  to  Du  Pratz,2  the  method  adopted  by 
the  Louisiana  Indians  in  playing  this  game  differed 
somewhat  from  that  prescribed  among  the  Indians  of 
Georgia  and  Florida.  "  The  warriors  practice  a  diver- 
sion which  is  called  the  game  of  the  pole,  at  which  only 
two  play  together  at  a  time.  Each  has  a  pole  about 
eight  feet  long,  resembling  a  Eoman  f,  and  the  game 
consists  in  rollins;  a  flat  round  stone,  about  three  inches 
diameter,  and  an  inch  thick,  with  the  edge  somewhat 
sloping,  and  throwing  the  pole  at  the  same  time  in 
such  a  manner  that  when  the  stone  rests  the  pole  may 
touch  it  or  be  near  it.  Both  antagonists  throw  their 
poles  at  the  same  time,  and  he  whose  pole  is  nearest  the 
stone  counts  one,  and  has  the  right  of  rolling  the  stone. 
The  men  fatigue  themselves  much  at  this  game  as  they 
run  after  their  poles  at  every  throw ;  and,  some  of  them 
are  so  bewitched  by  it  that  they  game  away  one  piece 
of  furniture  after  another.     These  gamesters,  however, 


1  See  Squier's  "  Antiquities  of  the  State  of  Xew  York,"  p.  234.     Buffalo,  1851. 
Transactions  American  Ethnological  Society,"  vol.  iii.,  part  1,  p.  34,  et  seq. 

2  "History  of  Louisiana,"  etc.,  p.  3G6.     London,  1*774. 


346  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

are  very  rare  and  are  greatly  discountenanced  "by  the 
rest  of  the  people." 

It  would  appear,  from  Lieutenant  Timberlake's 
observations,  that  this  game  was  also  called,  among 
some  of  the  Cherokee  tribes,  nettecawaw,  of  which  he 
gives  us  the  following  description : '  "  Each  player 
having  a  pole  about  ten  feet  long,  with  several  marks 
or  divisions,  one  of  them  bowls  a  round  stone,  with 
one  flat  side,  and  the  other  convex,  on  which  the  play- 
ers all  dart  their  poles  after  it,  and  the  nearest  counts 
according  to  the  vicinity  of  the  bowl  to  the  marks  on 
his  pole." 

The  Carolina  Indians,  as  we  are  informed  by  Sur- 
veyor-General John  Lawson,2  were  much  addicted  to  a 
sport  they  called  Chenco,  "  which  is  carried  on  with  a 
staff  and  a  bowl  made  of  stone  which  they  trundle 
upon  a  smooth  place  like  a  bowling  green,  made  for 
that  purpose."  The  presence  of  these  discoidal  stones 
in  Tennessee,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Ken- 
tucky, Virginia,  and  elsewhere,  assures  us  that  this 
game  of  chunghe  was  generally  practised  by  all  the 
Southern  tribes.  In  his  "  Natural  and  Aboriginal  His- 
tory of  Tennessee,"  Mr.  Haywood  describes  several 
stones  of  this  sort,  and  also  declares  that  they  have 
been  found  in  mounds.  Upon  page  190  we  read:  "In 
the  possession  of  General  Cocke,  of  Grainger  County, 
and  in  the  town  of  Kutledge,  is  a  circular  stone  found 
in  the  woods  there,  of  three  inches  in  diameter,  resem- 
bling in  colour  dark  yellow  barber's  soap.  In  the 
centre,  on  each  side,  is  a  small  circular  excavation 
about  one  inch  in  diameter  or  a  little  more,  scooped 
out  as  far  as  to  its  circumference,  extending  not  quite 

1  "  Memoirs,"  eta.,  p.  77.     London,  1765. 

2  "  History  of  Carolina,"  p.  98.     Raleigh  reprint,  1860. 


DISCOID AL    STONES.  347 

halfway  from  the  centre  to  the  circumference  of  the 
stone  itself.  On  both  sides  there  is  a  declivity  from 
the  centre  to  the  edge,  making  the  extremity  not  more 
than  half  as  thick  as  the  stone  is  at  the  centre.  It  is 
very  smoothly  cut.  .  .  . 

"  In  the  museum  of  a  lady  at  Nashville  is  one  of  a 
similar  shape ;  it  is  made  of  stone,  very  white  like 
snow,  transparent  and  glittering,  very  hard  and  heavy. 
It  is  about  three  inches  in  diameter,  or  perhaps  a  little 
less;  the  excavation  in  the  centre  on  each  side  seems 
adapted  to  the  thumb  and  finger,  and  at  the  extremity 
it  is  wider  in  proportion  than  the  one  before  described. 
And,  lately  was  taken  from  a  mound  in  Maury  Coun- 
ty, a  stone  perfectly  globular,  very  hard  and  heavy,  of 
a  variegated  exterior  and  exceedingly  well  polished. 
It  probably  belonged  to  some  employment  that  the 
other  circular  stones  did."  Again,  at  page  196,  our 
historian  continues :  "  About  ten  miles  from  Sparta,  in 
White  County,  a  conical  mound  was  lately  opened, 
and  in  the  centre  of  it  was  found  a  skeleton  eight  feet 
in  length.  With  it  was  found  a  stone  of  the  flint  kind, 
very  hard,  with  two  flat  sides,  having  in  the  centre  cir- 
cular hollows  exactly  accommodated  to  the  balls  of  the 
thumb  and  forefinger.  This  stone  was  an  inch  and  a 
half  in  diameter — the  form  exactly  circular.  It  was 
about  one-third  of  an  inch  thick  and  made  smooth 
and  flat  for  rolling,  like  a  grindstone,  to  the  form  of 
which,  indeed,  the  whole  stone  was  assimilated.  When 
placed  upon  the  floor  it  would  roll  for  a  considerable 
time  without  falling.  The  whole  surface  was  smooth 
and  well  polished.  .  .  .  No  doubt  it  was  buried  with 
the  deceased,  because  for  some  reason  he  had  set  a 
great  value  on  it  in  his  lifetime,  and  had  excelled  in 
some  accomplishment  to  which  it  related.     The  colour 


348  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

of  the  stone  was  a  dingy  white,  inclining  to  a  darkish 
yellow."  l 

Without  multiplying  these  historical  proofs  of  the 
presence  and  use  of  these  discoidal  stones  among  the 
Southern  Indians,  even  within  historic  times,  we  pro- 
ceed to  consider  briefly  the  peculiar  forms  of  such  as 
have  been  found  within  the  present  geographical  limits 
of  Georgia.  It  may  be  stated  generally  that  they  are 
all  circular  in  shape,  with  diameters  varying  from  one 
to  six  inches.  In  thickness  they  differ  from  a  quarter 
of  an  inch  to  two  inches  and  a  quarter.  Many  are  flat 
on  the  sides,  which,  as  they  approach  the  circumference, 
become  slightly  convex.  Perpendicular  at  the  edge, 
they  are  capable  of  standing  on  edge  and  of  maintain- 
ing this  upright  position,  with  great  tenacity,  when 
rolled  along  the  ground.  Others  are  lenticular  in 
shape,  with  oblique  margins.  For  the  manufacture  of 
specimens  of  this  solid  type — which  we  presume  was 
the  common  form — a  hard,  black,  close-grained  stone, 
capable  of  receiving  a  fine  polish,  formed  the  favorite 
material,  especially  along  the  coast.  So  nearly  in  out- 
line do  these  frequently  resemble  the  old-fashioned 
iron  weights  in  use  in  country  stores,  that  these  relics 
are  often  spoken  of,  among  the  unlearned,  as  Indian 
weights.  (See  Figs.  1,  2,  4,  5,  7,  11,  12, 13,  Plate  XX.) 
It  is  probable  that  the  smaller  varieties  were  made  for 
children,  who,  at  an  early  age,  were  taught  to  imitate 
this  favorite  amusement  of  their  elders.  This  impres- 
sion is  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  numerous  disks 
of  pottery  with  the  ornamentation  of  the  vessel  still 
upon  them,  are  found  upon  the  sites  of  old  villages 
and  at  localities  along  the  river-banks  where  the 
natives  congregated  from  year  to  year  to  fish.     It  is 

J  "Natural  and  Aboriginal  History  of  Tennessee,"  pp.190,  196.  Xashville,  1823. 


AM  PHO  rOL  ITHOGRAPWC  CO  f,  Y  I  JSBORNtS  PROCfSS ' 


DISCOIDAL    STONES.  349 

difficult  to  conjecture  what  uses  these  smaller  discoid  a  1 
stones  and  clay  disks  were  designed  to  subserve  except 
the  training  of  the  little  ones  in  the  arts  and  rules  of 
this  ancient  and  universally-esteemed  game.  Beauti- 
ful varieties  of  pudding-stone  (Fig.  12,  Plate  XX.), 
greenstone  (Fig.  13,  Plate  XX.),  talcose  slate,  soap- 
stone,  flint,  and  even  agate  (Fig.  7,  Plate  XX.),  were 
employed  in  the  manufacture  of  discoidal  stones  of  the 
solid  type.  The  regularity  of  outline  and  the  degree 
of  polish  are  remarkable. 

The  first  modification  of  this  customary  shape  is 
seen  in  those  discoidal  stones  whose  sides  are  slightly 
concave  or  convex.  In  some  instances  one  side  appears 
convex,  and  the  other  concave.  (Figs.  9  and  10,  Plate 
XX.)  We  turn  now  to  the  more  elaborate  forms  of 
these  discoidal  stones,  three  of  which  are  represented  in 
the  accompanying  plate.  They  are  all  made  of  ferru- 
ginous quartz,  and  are  well  polished.  The  first  speci- 
men (Fig.  6,  Plate  XX.)  is  evenly  hollowed  out  on 
both  sides  to  the  depth  of  an  inch  and  a  quarter  in  the 
centre.  The  cavities  are  circular,  and  four  inches  in 
diameter.  From  the  edge  of  each  cavity  toward  the 
outer  circumference,  the  stone  is  bevelled,  so  that  the 
edge  of  the  disk  is  just  an  inch  in  width.  This  dis- 
coidal stone  is  five  inches  and  three-quarters  in  diam- 
eter, and  two  inches  and  a  half  in  thickness  at  the  point 
where  the  cavities  begin. 

The  second  (Fig.  3,  Plate  XX.),  which  was  taken 
from  a  mound  in  Bullock  County,  is  somewhat  larger 
than  the  first,  being  exactly  six  inches  in  diameter,  and 
a  little  more  than  two  inches  and  a  quarter  thick.  It 
has  four  cavities,  two  on  each  side,  precisely  similar, 
and  one  within  the  other.  The  diameters  of  the  larger 
cavities  are  each  four  inches  and  a  half;  of  the  smaller, 


350  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

two  inches  and  a  quarter.  The  depth  of  the  outer 
cavities  is  five-eighths  of  an  inch ;  of  the  inner,  three- 
eighths  of  an  inch.  As  in  the  first  specimen,  the  sides 
are  here  also  bevelled  toward  the  edge,  which  is  rather 
more  than  three  quarters  of  an  inch  in  width.  Between 
the  outer  circle  of  the  concavity  and  the  j>oint  where 
the  bevelling  commences,  occurs  a  rim  a  quarter  of  an 
inch  in  thickness.  The  third  specimen  (Fig.  8,  Plate 
XX.),  which  may  justly  be  regarded  as  a  wonderful 
illustration  of  the  skill  and  protracted  labor  of  the 
primitive  artist  working  without  rule  or  compass  and 
unaided  by  a  single  metallic  tool,  was  found,  as  we 
have  already  stated,  at  the  bottom  of  a  large  sepulchral 
mound,  thirty  feet  high,  in  Cass  County.  It  is  abso- 
lutely s}THiinetrical  in  all  its  parts,  being  five  inches 
and  three-quarters  in  diameter,  and  one  inch  and  seven- 
eighths  in  thickness.  The  cavities — which  are  precise- 
ly similar  on  both  sides — are  three  inches  and  a  half 
in  diameter,  and  three-quarters  of  an  inch  deep.  In 
the  centre  of  these  cavities  is  a  slight  depression  an 
inch  in  diameter.  The  edge  is  slightly  convex,  and 
about  an  inch  wide.  The  distance  from  the  outer  cir- 
cle of  the  concavity  to  the  point  where  the  bevelling 
ceases  toward  the  circumference,  is  a  little  more  than 
an  inch.  The  entire  stone  is  beautifully  polished. 
The  regularity  with  which  these  relics  are  fashioned, 
challenges  our  admiration.  Upon  some  of  them,  the 
workman  of  the  present  day,  with  all  his  modern  im- 
plements and  mechanical  skill,  could  not  improve. 
Adair  tells  us  that  these  hurling-stones  were,  from 
"time  immemorial  rubbed  smooth  on  the  rocks,  and 
with  prodigious  labour,"  l  and  Lafitau  says  that  a  North 
American  Indian  sometimes  spent  his  life  in  making  a 

1  "  History  of  the  American  Indians,"  etc.,  p.  402.     London,  1775. 


DISCOID AL    STONES.  351 

stone  tomahawk,  and  that  without  finishing  it.1  Fes- 
tination  proceeds  from  the  devil,  is  an  aphorism  with 
which  the  Indians  offered  quarrel  neither  in  theory 
nor  in  practice.  With  them,  time  was  of  no  conse- 
quence. It  entered  not  as  an  element  into  their  daily 
calculations.  Consecutive  labor  formed  no  part  of 
their  ordinary  occupations.  Consequently,  the  matter 
on  hand  was  readily  postponed  in  favor  of  sleep, 
amusement,  or  mere  idleness.  We  may  well  believe, 
therefore,  that  these  discoidal  stones,  so  carefully 
formed  of  such  hard  material  as  quartz  and  even 
agate,  and  fashioned  into  their  present  symmetrical 
shapes  simply  by  means  of  attrition  with  other  stones, 
and  perhaps,  in  some  measure,  tnrough  the  agency  of 
large  wooden  drills  assisted  by  sharp  sand  and  water, 
should,  'in  their  construction,  have  occupied  weeks, 
months,  and  even  years  of  tedious,  although  desultory 
labor. 

The  general  distribution  of  these  stones  shows  that 
the  game,  for  which  they  wefe  manufactured,  was  in 
common  esteem  among  the  various  Georgia  tribes. 
Most  of  them  are  imperforate,  although  some  have 
come  under  the  writer's  observation  which  are  so  thor- 
oughly perforated  that  they  are  little  more  than  rings 
of  stone.  In  a  few  instances,  the  discoidal  stones  with 
marked  cavities  seem  to  have  been  put  to  a  secondary 
use,  and  treated  as  mortars  in  which  hard  substances 
were  triturated.  For  pulverizing  clay,  and  perhaps 
some  mineral  substances  serviceable  for  paint,  they 
would  have  answered  well.  If  our  conjecture  as  to 
the  primary  use  of  these  stones  be  correct,  it  will 
readily  be  perceived  that  in  bowling  them  the  outer 
edge  only  would  come  in  contact  with  the  surface  of 

1  "Moeurs  des  Sauvages  Ameriquains,''  tome  ii.,  p.  110.     Paris,  1724. 


352  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

the  ground.  The  constant  pressure  of  the  thumb 
against  the  centre  on  one  side,  and  of  the  fingers 
against  the  middle  of  the  other  side  (the  forefinger 
adapting  itself  to  the  curve  of  the  periphery),  would 
have  exerted  a  decided  tendency  to  keep  the  interior 
of  the  cavities  smooth. 

When,  therefore,  we  perceive  in  the  bottoms  of 
these  saucer-shaj^ed  cavities  unmistakable  traces  of 
abrasion,  Ave  are  persuaded  that  such  discoid al  stones 
have  been  diverted  from  the  use  they  were  orginally 
designed  to  subserve.  Such  instances  are,  however, 
rare ;  and,  in  all  likelihood,  afford  evidence  not  only  of 
desuetude,  but  also  of  perversion,  at  the  hands  of  mod- 
ern Indians.  Occasionally  we  have  observed  a  solid 
or  lenticular-shaped  stone  which  gave  indications  of  its 
having  been  employed  at  some  later  period  as  a  grind- 
ing or  mealing  stone. 

Although  it  has  been  suggested  that  a  similar 
game  was  practised  among  the  ancient  inhabitants  of 
Cornwall,  and  perhaps  at  Nidau-Steinberg  and  Ebers- 
berg,1  this  Chungke  game,  by  what  name  soever  called 
and  however  variant  the  rules  which  governed  its  de- 
tails, Avas  essentially  an  American  amusement,"  com- 
manding almost  universal  favor  at  the  hands  of  the 
North  American  tribes. 

In  the  plains  and-  upon  the  mountains  of  Chili  may 
be  seen  numbers  of  flat  circular  stones,  five  or  six  inches 
in  diameter,  made  either  of  granite  or  porphyry,  and 
Avith  a  hole  drilled  through  their  middle.  While  Mo- 
lina supposes  them  to  have  been  the  clubs  or  maces  of 
the  ancient  Chilians,  it  is  not  impossible  that  some  of 
them  may  have  been  used  as  gaming-stones.8    We  have 

1  Keller's  "  Lake  Dwellings,"  etc.,  pp.  135,  13C.     London,  1866.    Plates  xxxviii. 
and  lxxxix. 

2  Stevens'  "Flint  Chips,"  p.  505.     London,  1870. 


DISCOIDAL    STONES.  353 

seen  how  generally  distributed  these  relics  are  through 
the  Southern  States.  Several  varieties,  obtained  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  George  Howe  just  after  a  freshet  in  the 
Congaree  River,  which,  overflowing  its  banks,  laid 
bare  an  ancient  Indian  burial-ground  not  far  from  the 
city  of  Columbia,  in  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  are 
represented  in  the  plate  which  faces  page  178  of  the 
sixth  volume  of  Schoolcraft's  "  Archives  of  Aborigi- 
nal Knowledge." x  Mr.  Schoolcraft 2  states  that  "  the 
numerous  discoidal  stones  that  are  found  in  the  tumuli 
and  at  the  sites  of  ancient  occupancy  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  serve  to  denote  that  this  amusement  was  prac- 
tised among  the  earlier  tribes  of  that  valley  at  the 
mound  period.  These  antique  quoits  are  made  with 
great  labor  and  skill  from  very  hard  and  heavy  pieces 
of  stone.  They  are  generally  exact  disks,  of  a  concave 
surface,  with  an  orifice  in  the  centre,  and  a  broad  rim." 
He  expresses  the  oj)inion  that  the  object  of  hurling 
these  perforated  specimens  was  "  manifestly  to  cover' 
an  upright  pin  or  peg  driven  into  the  ground."  This, 
with  all  due  respect,  we  question.  The  weight  of 
authority  inclines  us  to  the  belief  that  these  stones 
were  rolled,  not  pitched. 

Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis  found  these  disks  in  the 
mounds  of  the  West ;  and,  in  their  "  Ancient  Monu- 
ments of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  have  made  us  familiar 
with  their  characteristic  types.3  They  are  related,  say 
they,  to  a  very  numerous  class  of  relics  scattered  over 
the  surface  from  the  valley  of  the  Ohio  to  Peru,  com- 
posed of  granite,  porphyry,  greenstone,  jas]3er,  quartz, 

1  Philadelphia,  1860. 

2  "Archives  of  Aboriginal  Knowledge,"  etc.,  vol.  i.,  p.  87,  plate  23.     Philadel- 
phia, 1860. 

3  "Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowledge,"  vol.  i.,  p.  221,  et seq.,  Fig.  121. 
Washington,  1848. 


35  ±  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

etc.  Although  the  opinion  of  these  gentlemen  is  enti- 
tled to  the  highest  consideration,  in  the  light  of  subse- 
quent investigations  we  feel  constrained  to  differ  from 
them  when  they  advance  the  idea  that  discoidal  stones 
are  "  of  comparatively  modern  origin."  They  are  old, 
very  ancient,  if  we  understand  the  record  of  the  mounds 
in  which  they  have  been  found,  and  rightly  interpret 
the  antiquity  of  the  relics  with  which  some  of  them 
are  associated.  The  game,  of  which  they  are  the 
symbols — conceived  in  a  distant  past  and  maintained 
through  the  intermediate  centuries — was  still  popular 
within  historic  times.  To  the  accounts  already  given, 
it  may  prove  interesting  to  add  a  few  other  notices : 

"  The  Rev.  J.  B.  Finley  (distinguished  for  his  zealous 
efforts  in  Christianizing  the  Indian  tribes  of  Ohio)," 
say  Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis,1  "  states  that  among  the 
tribes  with  which  he  was  acquainted,  stones  identical 
with  those  above  described,  were  much  used  in  a  popu- 
lar game  resembling  the  modern  game  of  '  ten  pins.' 
The  form  of  the  stones  suggests  the  manner  in  which 
they  were  held  and  thrown,  or  rather  rolled.  The 
concave  sides  received  the  thumb  and  second  finger, 
the  forefinger  clasping  the  periphery." 

Mr.  Breckenridge 2  mentions  a  game  popular  among 
the  Riccarees  which  was  played  with  a  ring  of  stone ; 
and  Lewis  and  Clarke  assert  that  a  similar  amusement 
was  indulged  in  by  the  Mandans.  The  javelin-game 
among  the  Pawnees  was  probably  but  a  modification 
of  this  ancient  sport.3 

To  the  Abbe  Em  Domenecli 4  we  are  indebted  for 

1  "  Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowledge,"  vol.  i.,  p.  223,  note. 

2  "  Views  of  Louisiana,"  p.  256,  quoted  by  Squier  and  Davis. 

3  "  Travels  in  North  America,"  Hon.  C.  A.  Murray,  vol.  i.,  p.  321.     Morgan's 
■•League  of  the  Iroquois,  pp.  299-302. 

4  "  Seven  Years'  Residence  in  the  Great  Deserts  of  North  America,"  vol.  ii. 
.197.     London,  1860. 


GAME    OF    SPEAR    AND   RING.  oOD 

the  following  :  "  Their  game  of  Spear  and  Ring  is  ex- 
tremely curious  and  difficult.  The  players  are  divided 
into  two  camps,  for  Indians  are  fond  of  collective  par- 
ties in  which  are  many  conquerors,  and  consequently 
many  conquered.  The  stakes  and  bets  are  deposited 
in  the  care  of  an  old  man ;  then  a  hard  smooth  ground, 
without  vegetation  of  any  kind,  is  chosen,  in  the  mid- 
dle of  which  is  placed  perpendicularly  a  stone  ring 
of  about  three  inches  diameter.  When  all  is  prepared, 
the  players  (armed  with  spears  six  or  seven  feet  long, 
furnished  with  small  shields  a  little  apart  from  each 
other,  sometimes  with  bits  of  leather)  rush  forward, 
two  at  a  time,  one  from  each  camp ;  they  stooj)  so  as 
to  place  their  spears  on  a  horizontal  level  with  the 
ring,  so  that  they  may  pass  through  it — the  great  test 
of  skill  being  to  succeed  without  upsetting  it.  Each 
small  shield  or  bit  of  leather  that  passes  through, 
counts  for  a  point :  the  victory  remains  to  the  player 
who  has  most  points,  or  he  who  upsets  the  ring  at 
the  last  hit. 

"  Some  Indians  render  the  game  still  more  difficult 
by  playing  it  as  follows  :  One  of  the  players  takes  the 
ring  in  his  Land  and  sends  it  rolling,  with  all  his 
strength,  as  far  as  possible  on  the  prepared  ground ; 
his  adversary  who  is  by  his  side,  starts  full  speed  after 
it  to  stop  it,  so  as  to  string  it  on  his  spear  as  far  as  the 
last  little  shield. 

"  The  Mojaves  had  a  game  so  similar  to  the  above 
that  to  avoid  repetition  it  need  only  be  mentioned. 
The  Natchez  favorite  pastime  was  very  like  the  spear 
game,  except  that  it  required  more  strength  and  ad- 
dress. Only  two  men  could  play  at  a  time.  One  threw 
with  all  his  strength,  and  as  far  as  possible,  a  long 
stick  of  the  shape  of  a  bat,  and  before  it  came  to  the 


356  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

ground,  rolled  a  huge  circular  stone  in  the  same  direc- 
tion. His  adversary  then  threw  a  stick  like  the  first, 
and  he  whose  bat  came  nearest  the  stone  gained  a 
point  and  the  right  to  launch  the  stone  in  his  turn : 
which  was  a  great  advantage,  as  from  the  impulse  he 
gave  it  a  player  was  able  to  guess  about  how  far  the 
stone  would  roll." 

Speaking  of  the  Mandans,  Catlin J  says :  "  The  games 
and  amusements  of  these  people  are  in  most  respects 
like  those  of  the  other  tribes,  consisting  of  ball  plays 
— game  of  the  moccasin,  of  the  platter — feats  of  arch- 
ery— horse-racing,  etc.;  and  they  have  yet  another, 
which  may  be  said  to  be  their  favorite  amusement, 
and  unknown  to  the  other  tribes  about  them — the 
game  of  Tchung-kee,  a  beautiful  athletic  exercise, 
which  they  seem  to  be  almost  unceasingly  practising 
whilst  the  weather  is  fair,  and  they  have  nothing  else 
of  moment  to  demand  their  attention.  This  game  is 
decidedly  their  favorite  amusement,  and  is  played  near 
to  the  village  on  a  pavement  of  clay,  which  has  been 
used  for  that  purpose  until  it  has  become  as  smooth 
and  hard  as  a  floor.  For  this  game  two  champions 
form  their  respective  parties  by  choosing  alternately 
the  most  famous  players  until  their  requisite  numbers 
are  made  up.  Their  bettings  are  then  made,  and  their 
stakes  are  held  by  some  of  the  chiefs  or  others  present. 
The  play  commences  (plate  59)  with  two  (one  from 
each  party),  who  start  oif  upon  a  trot,  abreast  of  each 
other,  and  one  of  them  rolls  in  advance  of  them,  on 
the  pavement,  a  little  ring  of  two  or  three  inches  in 
diameter,  cut  out  of  stone ;  and  each  one  follows  it  up 
with  his  '  tchung-kee '   (a  stick  of  six  feet  in  length, 

1  "  Illustrations  of  the  Manners,  Customs,  and  Conditions  of  the  North  Ameri- 
can Indians,"  etc.,  seventh  edition,  vol.  i.,  p.  132.     London,  1848. 


TCIIUNG-KEE    GAME.  357 

with  little  bits  of  leather  projecting  from  its  sides  of 
an  inch  or  more  in  length),  which  he  throws  before 
him  as  he  runs,  sliding  it  along  upon  the  ground  after 
the  ring,  endeavoring  to  place  it  in  such  a  position 
when  it  stops,  that  the  ring  may  fall  upon  it,  and  re- 
ceive one  of  the  little  projections  of  leather  through 
it,  which  counts  for  game  one,  or  two,  or  four,  accord- 
ing to  the  position  of  the  leather  on  which  the  ring  is 
lodged.  The  last  winner  always  has  the  rolling  of  the 
ring,  and  both  start  and  throw  the  tchung-kee  together ; 
if  either  fails  to  receive  the  ring  or  to  lie  in  a  certain 
position,  it  is  a  forfeiture  of  the  amount  of  the  num- 
ber he  was  nearest  to,  and  he  loses  his  throw  ;  when 
another  steps  into  his  place.  This  game  is  a  very  diffi- 
cult one  to  describe,  so  as  to  give  an  exact  idea  of  it, 
unless  one  can  see  it  played — it  is  a  game  of  great 
beauty  and  fine  bodily  exercise,  and  these  people  be- 
come excessively  fascinated  with  it;  often  gambling 
away  every  thing  they  possess,  and  even  sometimes, 
when  every  thing  else  was  gone,  have  been  known  to 
stake  their  liberty  upon  the. issue  of  these  games, 
offering  themselves  as  slaves  to  their  opponents  in 
case  they  get  beaten." 

No  longer  is  this  ancient  game  played  either  in 
Georgia  or  within  the  limits  of  conterminous  States. 
Like  the  exercise  of  the  discus  in  the  heroic  age,  it 
has  now  become  only  a  tradition — a  shadowy  memory 
from  a  nebulous  past.  The  carefully-prepared  areas 
over  which,  from  morning  until  night,  the  red  athletes 
rushed  hither  and  thither  in  the  enthusiastic  pursuit 
of  this  sport,  at  the  expense  of  time  and  property  and 
personal  liberty,  are  entirely  deserted  now  and  rugged 
with  the  trunks  and  roots  of  huge  forest: trees.  The 
anointed  poles  and  the  swift  hands  which  launched 


358  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

them,  have  alike  crumbled  into  nothingness.  Winners 
and  losers,  forgetting  their  profits  and  losses,  the  exulta- 
tions and  the  disappointments  of  this  exciting  amuse- 
ment, are  themselves  forgotten,  and  but  little  remains 
to  remind  us  of  the  former  existence  and  prevalence 
of  this  great  game,  characterized  by  singular  dexterity, 
severe  exercise  and  desperate  ventures,  save  these  dis- 
coidal  stones,  often  so  remarkable  for  their  symmetry, 
and  so  expressive  of  the  skill  and  labor  expended  in 
their  i n anufacture. 


rialeXXI. 


AM  PUOTO-UTHOCPAPHtCCO  (V  Y  OSBORNES  hKOCCSS  ' 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Stone  Tubes. 

The  tube,  of  which  Fig.  1,  Plate  XXL,  is  a  clever 
representation,  was  found  in  a  small  burial-mound  in 
Burke  County.  It  is  made  of  serpentine,  is  thirteen, 
inches  and  a  quarter  in  length,  and  weighs  three 
pounds  and  a  half  avoirdupois.  The  bore  at  one  end 
is  circular,  and  an  inch  and  three-eighths  in  diam- 
eter. At  the  other  end  the  commencement  of  the 
aperture  is  elliptical  in  shape,  the  length  of  the  major 
axis  being  an  inch  and  three-eighths,  and  that  of  the 
minor  one  inch.  At  this '  end  the  exterior  surface  has 
been  correspondingly  flattened.  The  walls  of  the  tube 
are  about  three-eighths  of  an  inch  in  thickness.  The 
perforation  or  bore  extends  longitudinally  through  the 
implement,  but  with  diameters  gradually  diminishing 
from  either  end,  until,  at  the  point  where  they  meet  in 
the  centre,  the  opening,  which  is  there  circular,  is  less 
than  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  In  this  tube 
the  hollow  has  been  compassed  not  by  drilling  but  by 
gouging  out  or  removing  the  interior  particles  of  stone 
by  means  of  some  sharp-pointed  instrument.  Longi- 
tudinal scars,  caused  by  the  operation,  are  still  dis- 
cernible on  the  inner  surface.     Xo  circular  striae  can 


300  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

be  perceived.  The  elevated  ring  around  the  central 
portion  is  rudely  ornamented  with  zigzag  lines.  With 
this  exception  the  exterior  surface  is  smooth,  entirely 
plain,  and  well  polished. 

Similar  tubes  of  steatite  (Fig.  2,  Plate  XXL), 
soajDstone,  and  mica  slate,  have  been  found  in  other 
localities — all,  however,  smaller  than  the  specimen  we 
have  just  examined.  Seven  inches  would  express  the 
average  length  of  such  as  have  passed  under  the 
writer's  observation.  The  bores  of  some  of  them  are, 
at  each  end,  of  like  diameter — say  an  inch  and  three- 
quarters — gradually  lessening  as  they  approach  the 
centre,  where  the  width  of  the  aperture  does  not  mate- 
rially vary  from  a  quarter  of  an  inch.  The  Avails  are 
sometimes  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  thickness. 
Upon  the  ornamentation  of  the  ends  and  exterior  sur- 
face of  these  tubes,  in  some  instances,  considerable 
pains  have  been  bestowed.  Stone  tubes  not  precisely 
similar  in  character,  but  bearing  a  general  resemblance, 
have  been  described  and  figured  by  Mr.  Schoolcraft,1 
Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis,2  and  others.  An  implement 
very  like  in  its  conformation  is  thus  noticed  by  Mr. 
Haywood : 3  "  About  eighteen  miles  east  from  Rogers- 
ville  in  the  county  of  Hawkins,  in  East  Tennessee,  was 
ploughed  up  a  stone  trumpet.  It  tapers  on  the  out- 
side from  either  end  to  the  middle,  and  is  there  sur- 
rounded by  two  rings  of  raised  stone.  The  inside,  at 
each  end,  is  a  hollow  of  an  inch  and  a  quarter  in  diam- 
eter ;  but  at  one  end  the  orifice  is  not  as  large  as  at  the 
other.  Probably  the  sound  is  shrill  and  sharp  when 
blown  from  one  end,  and  more  full  and  sonorous  when 


;  Transactions  of  the  American  Ethnological  Society,"  vol.  i.,  p.  406. 
■  Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  pp.  224-227. 
Natural  and  Aboriginal  History  of  Tennessee,"  p.  210.     Nashville,  1823. 


STONE   TUBES.  361 

blown  from  the  other.  The  hollow  continues  through- 
out from  the  one  end  to  the  other,  but  in  the  middle, 
under  the  rings,  it  is  not  as  wide  as  at  the  ends.  It 
seems  to  have  been  made  of  hard  soapstone;  and, 
when  blown  through,  makes  a  sound  which  may  be 
heard  perhaps  two  miles.  It  is  very  smooth  on  the 
outside,  but  rough  within." 

By  some,  Mr.  Schoolcraft  among  the  number,  it  has 
been  suggested  that  these  tubes  were  telescopic  de- 
vices ;  and,  in  their  construction,  he  pretends  to  trace 
an  analogy  to  the  tubular  chambers  used  by  the  Aztec 
and  Maya  races  in  their  astronomical  observations. 
This  notion  we  regard  as  fanciful ;  nor  do  we  sympa- 
thize in  the  belief  of  those  who  pronounce  them  musical 
instruments.  In  vain  have  we  endeavored  to  evoke  a 
single  sound  beyond  a  dull,  dead  blast ;  and  that  in- 
capable of  transmitting  itself  to  any  practicable  dis- 
tance. 

We  'know  that  the  Southern  tribes  were  fond  of 
music  and  dancing,  and  that  their  music  was  both 
vocal  and  instrumental.  Aside,  however,  from  their 
drums,  tambours,  rattle-gourds,  anVl  flutes  made  of  the 
joint  of  a  reed,  or  of  the  deer's  tibia,  they  possessed  no 
musical  instruments  worth  the  mention.1  So  far  as 
present  recollection  serves  us,  nowhere  do  we  read  of 
the  use  of  stone  trumpets,  or  any  thing  of  the  sort.  It 
is  entirely  improbable  that  the  Indians  would  have 
expended  so  much  labor  to  such  little  purpose  when 
the  joint  of  a  swamp-cane,  or  a  large  conch,  would 
have  so  readily,  and  so  much  better  answered  the  de- 
sired object.  We  incline  to  the  opinion  that  these 
were  medicine  or  cupping-tubes. 

1  See  Bartram's  "  Travels  through  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia,"  etc.,  p. 
502.     London,  1*792. 


362  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

Coreal1  mentions  that  when  the  Florida  Indians 
"  are  sick,  they  have  not  their  veins  opened,  as  is  done 
elsewhere ;  but  they  call  for  the  Jaoiinas  who  are  their 
priests  and  physicians.  These  suck  that  part  of  the 
body  which  causes  the  patient  most  pain ;  and  they  do 
it  either  with  the  mouth  or  with  a  kind  of  shepherd's- 
flute  (chalumeau)7  having  first  made  a  small  incision 
near  some  vein." 

Cabeca  de  Vaca2  alludes  to  similar  treatment  of 
the  sick :  "  The  practitioner  scarifies  over  the  seat  of 
pain,  and  then  sucks  about  the  wound.  They  make 
cauteries  with  fire,  a  remedy  among  them  in  *high  re- 
pute, which  I  have  tried  on  myself  and  found  benefit 
from  it.  They  afterward  blow  on  the  spot,  and  hav- 
ing finished,  the  patient  considers  that  he  is  relieved." 
Bibas,  a  century  afterward,  furnishes  an  account  of  this 
curative  process :  "  The  method  of  cure  the  possessed 
practitioners  have,  is  sucking  the  part  that  aches  ;  if  it 
be  injured,  blowing  on  it :  which,  for  the  effort  and 
force,  may  be  heard  many  steps  off.  .  .  .  They  give 
the  sick  to  understand  that  the  causes  of  their  illness 
are  the  sticks,  thorns  and  pebbles  in  their  bodies, 
which  they  take  out.  This  is  false.  They  have  the 
things  in  the  mouth,  or  held  craftily  in  the  hand,  and 
afterwards  exhibit  them  as  our  tooth-pullers  do  teeth, 
on  a  string,  as  evidences  of  their  professional  skill." 3 
After  enumerating  the  cures  by  burning,  smoking, 
scarifying,  and  sweating,  Beverly  states  that  the  Vir- 
ginia Indians  sometimes  made  use  of  reeds  for  cauter- 

1  "Voyages  aux  Indes  Occidentales,"  tome  i.,  p.  39.     Amsterdam,  1*722.    Co- 
real  visited  Florida  in  1669. 

2  "Relation  of  Alvar  Nunez  Cabeca  de  Vaca,"  translated   by  Buckingham 
Smith,  p.  81.     New  York,  1811. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  82,  note.    New  York,  1871. 


MEDICINE-TUBES.  363 

izing,  which  they  heated  over  the  fire  until  they  were 
on  the  eve  of  ignition,  and  then  applied,  upon  a  piece 
of  thin  wet  leather,  to  the  part  affected,1 

In  his  account  of  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  the 
Californian  Peninsula,  the  German  Jesuit  missionary  Ja- 
cob Baegert,  commenting  upon  the  state  of  the  medical 
art  as  it  existed  anions  the  Indians  of  that  region  dur- 
ing  the  second  half  of  the  last  century,  writes :  "  There 
are  many  impostors  among  them  pretending  to  possess 
the  power  of  curing  diseases,  and  the  ignorant  Indians 
have  so  much  faith  in  their  art  that  they  send  for  one 
or  more  of  these  scoundrels  whenever  they  are  indis- 
posed. In  treating  a  sick  person,  these  jugglers  em- 
ploy a  small  tube  which  they  use  for  sucking  or  blow- 
ing the  patient  for  a  while,  making  also  various  gri- 
maces, and  muttering  something  which  they  do  not  un- 
derstand themselves,  until,  finally,  after  much  hard 
breathing  and  panting,  they  show  the  patient  a  flint, 
or  some  other  object  previously  hidden  about  their 
persons,  pretending  to  have  at  last  removed  the  real 
cause  of  the  disorder." ' 

Vene^as 3  confirms  the  observation  of  Baegert  with 
regard  to  the  use  of  stone  tubes  by  the  medicine-men 
of  the  California  Indians :  "  One  mode  was  very  re- 
markable, and  the  good  effect  it  sometimes  produced 
heightened  the  reputation  of  the  physician.  They  ap- 
plied to  the  suffering  .part  of  the  patient's  body  the 
chacuaco,  or  a  tube  formed  out  of  a  very  hard  black 
stone ;  and  through  this  they  sometimes  sucked,  and 
other  times  blew,  but  both  as  hard  as  they  were  able, 

1  "  History  and  Present  State  of  Virginia,"  book  iii.,  chap,  ix.,  p.  49.    London, 
1705. 

2  Prof.  Rau's  "translation,"  etc.     Annual  Report  of  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion for  1864,  p.  386. 

3  "Natural  and  Civil  History  of  California,"  vol.  i.,  p.  97.     London,  1759. 


364  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

supposing  that  thus  the  disease  was  either  exhaled  or 
dispersed.  Sometimes  the  tube  was  filled  with  Cimar- 
ron or  wild  tobacco  lighted,  and  here  they  either 
sucked  in  or  blew  down  the  smoke,  according  to  the 
physician's  direction  ;  and  this  powerful  caustiek  some- 
times, without  any  other  remedy,  has  been  known  en- 
tirely to  remove  the  disorder." 

These  authorities  confirm  our  impression  that  tubes 
— like  those  we  have  been  considering — were  medici- 
nal in  their  uses,  and  materially  assisted  the  primitive 
physician — at  once  quack  and  conjurer — in  perform- 
ing his  wonderful  cures.  The  flattened  end  appears 
adapted  to  the  lips.  This,  and  the  small  hole  in  the 
centre  of  the  bore,  facilitated  both  the  blowing  and  the 
sucking  process.  By  the  circular  opening  at  the  larger 
end,  the  seat  of  pain  could  have  been  conveniently 
covered.  ,  The  weight  of  the  instrument  enhanced  its 
efficiency,  and  rendered  more  facile  its  preservation  in 
the  desired  position.  While  under  treatment,  Indian 
patients  were  compelled  to  assume  more  than  a  recum- 
bent position.  They  were  obliged  to  lie  flat  down, 
now  on  the  back,  and  again  on  the  stomach.  If  we  go 
one  step  farther  and  suppose  the  cavity  next  to  the 
flattened  end  filled  with  punk,  dried  tobacco-leaves,  or 
some  combustible  material,  the  other  end  of  the  tube 
being  firmly  applied  to  the  part  affected,  which  had 
been  previously  scarified,  we  will  perceive,  when  the 
contained  substance  was  ignited,  how  readily  this  tube 
would  have  answered  the  purposes  either  of  cauteriza- 
tion or  cupping.  In  the  one  case  the  particles  of  burn- 
ing matter  dropping  through  the  central  opening  would 
have  blistered  and  burnt  the  diseased  spot ;  while  in 
the  other,  the  active  fire  kindled  in  the  upper  portion 
of  the  tube — the  ashes  by  a  single  contrivance  being 


OENAMEXTAL    TUBES.  305 

prevented  from  falling  through  the  narrow  portion  of 
the  bore  below — would  have  created  and  maintained 
during  its  existence  a  vacuum  in  the  lower  part  of  the 
tube,  thus  causing  the  blood  to  flow  freely  from  the 
incisions  made  in  the  flesh. 

Other  tubes  (Figs.  3,  4,  5,  and  6,  Plate  XXL) 
occur,  which,  apparently,  were  used  as  ornaments. 
These  vary  in  length  from  two  to  three  inches  and  a 
half,  and  in  general  conformation  resemble  triangular 
prisms,  with  convex  sides,  and  angles  slightly  rounded. 
Steatite,  talcose  slate,  and  soapstone,  were  the  custom- 
ary materials  employed  in  their  construction.  Perfo- 
rated longitudinally,  the  average  diameter  of  their 
bores  may  be  stated  at  from  three-eighths  to  one-half 
of  an  inch.  Numbers  of  such  relics  have  been  found 
along  the  banks  of  the  Savannah  Eiver  above  Augusta, 
and  in  other  portions  of  the  State.  The  exterior  sur- 
face is  not  infrequently  ornamented  with  incised  lines, 
curved,  straight,  and  zigzag.  Ordinarily,  the  holes 
were  drilled,  the  circular  striae  being  clearly  defined, 
and  the  bore  of  equal  diameter  throughout  the  entire 
length  of  the  article.  Our  impression  is  that  they  were 
worn  as  ornaments.  In  Fig.  125,  of  the  "Ancient 
Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  '  are  represented 
two  varieties  of  stone  tubes  of  this  class. 

1  Page  227. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Stones  for  rounding  Arrow-shafts. — Whetstones  or  Sharpeners. — Pierced  Tablets. 
— Pendants. — Slung-stones. — Amulets. — Stone  Plate. — Mica  Mirrors. — Sculp- 
tured Rocks. 

At  a  large  hunting-camp,  which  had  been"  aban- 
doned by  the  Indians,  Captain  Romans !  noticed  "  some 
stones  deeply  marked  by  the  savages  with  some  un- 
couth marks,  but  most  of  them  straight  lines  and 
crossed."  He  conjectured  that  they  had  been  used  for 
grinding  awls.  The  only  means  the  natives  possessed 
of  restoring  an  edge  to  their  worn  and  blunted  axes 
and  other  stone  implements  was,  by  rubbing  them 
against  whetstones.  Hence  we  frequently  meet  with 
irregularly-shaped  stones,  grooved  and  scarred  by  this 
process.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  hard  canes 
of  the  Southern  swamps  supplied  the  red  hunters  of 
this  region  with  convenient  and  abundant  store  of 
arrows.  The  material  was  most  suitable  for  this  pur- 
])ose,  combining,  as  it  did,  requisite  size,  durability  and 
lightness.  No  labor  .was  necessary  in  shaping  the 
arrow,  save  such  as  was  expended  in  removing  the 
exterior  sheath,  in  smoothing  the  joints,  in  straighten- 
ing and  in  cutting  the  reed  off  at  the  desired  length. 

1  "  Concise  Natural  History  of  East  and  West  Florida,"  p.  327.  New  York, 
1775. 


Mate  M/f 


I/..-  PHOTO-UTHOtiRAPMCCO  A  1. 1  OSBORNE*  PROCESS 


WHET    STONES. PIEECED    TABLETS.  367 

"When  the  green  cane  was  subjected  to  a  certain  degree 
of  heat,  its  natural  moisture  was  readily  expelled,  and 
the  reed  easily  freed  from  any  irregularities.  If  made, 
while  heated,  to  assume  a  direct  line,  it  would  not  de- 
viate therefrom  when  cold  and  dry.  In  order  to.  facili- 
tate this  straightening  and  polishing  of  the  arrow,  it 
was,  while  hot,  passed  through  grooves  made  in  sand- 
stone or  in  some  other  coarse-grained  stone.  These 
grooves  are  generally  carefully  made  in  direct  lines, 
are  even  in  their  diameters,  and  frequently  intersect 
each  other  at  right  angles,  thereby  presenting  the  ap- 
pearance of  crosses.  An  example  is  represented  in 
Fig.  1,  Plate  XXII. 

It  will  be  perceived  that  the  heated  cane  arrow, 
when  pressed  and  rubbed  in  these  grooves,  would  not 
only  be  freed  from  all  irregularity  of  surface,  but  would 
also  be  compelled  to  assume  a  direct  line.  Such  a  con- 
trivance equally  facilitated  the  manufacture  and  polish- 
ing of  wooden  arrows — the  rough  surface  of  the  stone 
acting  as  a  file  in  reducing  the  shaft  to  the  desired  size 
and  roundness.  These  stones  for  rounding  arrow- 
siiaets  are  readily  distinguished  from  the  ordinary 
whetstones,  so  generally  employed  for  sharpening  t^e 
edges  of  axes  and  other  cutting  implements.  (Fig.  7, 
Plate  XXII.) 

Pierced  Tablets. — Various  as  the  fancies  of  the 
makers  are  the  shapes  of  these  relics. 

The  illustrations  prepared  by  Messrs.  Squier  and 
Davis  of  the  "  gorgets  "  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  '  aptly 
represent  most  of  those  generally  found  in  the  mounds, 
relic-beds,  and  fields  of  Georgia  and  her  sister  States. 
Many  of  them  were  made  of  a  beautiful  slate,  with 

1  "Ancient  Monuments  of  the  ?Jississippi  Valley,"  pp.  230,  237.     Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  1848. 


308  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

from  two  to  five  perforations,  and  are  so  thin  and  deli- 
cately constructed  that  they  could  have  served  only 
the  purposes  of  ornament.  Pierced  tablets  of  this 
class  are  lozenge-shaped,  oval,  parallelogranmiic,  or  fash- 
ioned, after  the  similitude  of  the  lid  of  a  coffin.  Oth- 
ers, again,  are  cruciform  and  star-shaped.  In  fine,  their 
forms  are  varied,  and  in  many  instances  quite  fanciful. 
Many  possess  only  a  single  perforation  in  the  upper 
end  or  near  the  middle.  Most,  however,  have  two 
holes  drilled  about  an  inch  apart  and  through  the  cen- 
tral portion.  They  vary  in  length  from  three  to  eight 
inches,  in  width  from  three-quarters  of  an  inch  to  three 
inches,  and  in  thickness  from  the  sixteenth  to  a  quarter 
of  an  inch.  The  edges  are  frequently  ornamented  with 
notches,  and  the  broad  surfaces  are  sometimes  covered 
with  incised  lines.  In  all  instances  of  this  ornamental 
class  it  will  be  observed  that  the  perforations  are  uni- 
form, generally  varying  from  the  eighth  to  a  quarter 
of  an  inch  in  diameter.  Objects  of  this  fragile  descrip- 
tion were,  we  think,  intended  as  ornaments,  and  were 
suspended  from  the  neck  or  fastened  to  some  conspicu- 
ous part  of  the  vestment. 

There  is  another  variety,  however,  so  much  more 
substantial  in  its  character  that  it  seems  to  have  been 
designed  for  practical  use.  Eelics  of  this  class  are 
made  of  serpentine,  of  greenstone,  and  of  hard  slate. 
Even  jasper  has  been  employed  in  their  manufacture. 
They  are  thick  and  durable.  It  is  not  uncommon  to 
meet  with  one  of  them  fully  an  inch  in  thickness, 
although  most  of  them  do  not  attain  that  dimension 
by  a  half.  They  contain  in  most  instances  only  two 
perforations,  located  in  the  central  part  of  the  imple- 
ment, and  about  an  inch  or  an  inch  and  a  quarter  distant 
from  each  other.     These  perforations — unlike  those  ob- 


PIEECED    TABLETS.  3G9 

served  in  the  case  of  the  ornamental  pierced  tablets — 
are  conical  in  form.  The  drilling  is  never  done  from 
both  sides,  but  only  from  that  side  where  the  aperture 
is  largest.  The  shape  of  the  perforation  is  evidently 
not  accidental,  because  a  uniformity  exists.  The  aper- 
ture on  one  side  is  about  twice  as  wide  as  it  is  on 
the  other.  Such  is  the  general  rule  in  the  case  of  the 
thicker  "  gorgets,"  and  hence  it  has  been  suggested  that 
implements  of  this  class  were  employed  by  the  Indians 
in  the  manufacture  of  their  bow-strings.  The  material 
used  for  this  purpose,  it  is  believed,  could  be  readily 
pressed  through  the  wider  opening  and  then  drawn  so 
as  to  make  it  conform  to  an  even  size.  Several  thongs 
thus  passed  through  the  two  or  three  apertures  in  the 
same  gorget,  when  drawn  to  the  required  length,  all 
being  of  the  same  size,  could  conveniently  have  been 
twisted  into  one  common,  strong  cord.  ■  Of  this  vari- 
ety we  figure  two  typical  specimens  (Figs.  2  and  3, 
Plate  XXII.). 

In  response  to  a  letter  from  Prof.  Charles  Rau,  Mr. 
Catlin  writes :  "  With  regard  to  the  tablets  of  which 
you  speak,  I  have  seen  several,  but  the  holes  were 
much  larger  than  those  you  describe.  Those  which  I 
have  seen  were  used  by  the  Indians  for  grooving  the 
shafts  of  their  arrows.  All  arrows  of  the  primitive  In- 
dians are  found  with  three  grooves  extending  from  the 
arrow's  shoulder  at  the  fluke,  to  the  feathers,  and  con- 
ducting the  air  between  them  so  as  to  give  them 
steadiness.  These  grooves,  on  close  examination,  are 
found  to  be  indented  by  pressure,  and  not  in  any  way 
cut  out ;  and  this  pressure  is  produced,  while  forcing 
the  arrow  softened  by  steam  through  a  hole  in  the 
tablet,  with  the  incisor  of  a  bear  set  firmly  in  a  handle 
and  projecting  over  the  rim  of  the  hole,  as  the  arrow- 


370  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

shaft  is  forced  downward  through  the  tablet,  getting 
compactness  and  on  the  surface  and  in  the  groove  a 
smoothness  which  no  cutting,  filing,  or  scraping  can 
produce.  It  would  be  useless  to  pass  the  bowstring 
through  the  tablet,  for  the  evenness  and  the  hardness 
of  the  strings  are  produced  much  more  easily  and 
effectually  by  rolling  them,  as  they  do,  between  two 
flat  stones  whilst  saturated  with  heated  glue." 

It  thus  appears  that  this  extensive  and  venerable 
observer  discountenances  the  idea  that  these  perforated 
tablets  were  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  bow- 
strings, thongs,  and  cords.  Since,  through  the  kind- 
ness of  Prof.  Ran,  we  have  been  made  acquainted  with 
these  remarks  of  Mr.  Catlin,  we  have  carefully  examined 
the  tablets  in  our  possession  and  have  failed  to  note 
any  impression  produced  upon  the  edges  of  the  perfora- 
tions by  the  pressure  of  any  thing  like  the  incisor  of  a 
bear.  Remembering  the  rather  soft  material  from 
which  many  of  these  tablets  were  made,  we  might  rea- 
sonably anticipate  the  presence  of  some  abrasion  in  the 
perforations  if  they  were  subjected  to  a  constant  use 
such  as  has  been  suggested. 

Pendants. — The  typical  forms  indicated  by  Messrs. 
Squier  and  Davis  in  the  "  Ancient  Monuments  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley,"  *  have  their  counterparts  among  the 
relics  of  the  Southern  Indians.  The  pear-shaj)ed  pen- 
dant, with  groove  around  the  upper  end,  is  by  no  means 
infrequent.  Brown  hematite,  greenstone,  quartz,  and 
a  variegated  jasper,  were  the  materials  selected  for  its 
manufacture.  Of  this  variety  some  are  so  delicate,  so 
beautiful,  and  so  carefully  polished,  that  they  seem 
to  have  been  designed  for  nose  and  ear  ornaments.2 

1  Page  235. 

2  Adair  ("  History  of   the  American  Indians,"  pp.  170,  171.     London,  1775) 
alludes  to  the  us?  of  coarse  diamonds  and  bits  of  stone  fastened  with  deer's  sinew 


PENDANTS.  371 

Most  of  them,  however,  are  so  heavy  tlia't  they  could 
not  well  have  answered  such  a  purpose.  May  not  the 
larger  sorts  Lave  been  employed — after  the  fashion  of 
the  modern  bobbin — in  twisting  bow-strings,  plaiting 
belts,  and  in  weaving  various  articles  for  personal 
decoration  I 

From  the  peculiar  shape  and  the  careless  manner 
in  which  many — found  in  the  relic-beds  along  the 
river-banks — have  been  fashioned,  it  seems  probable 
that  they  were  intended  as  fishing-plummets.  In 
their  construction  soapstone  was  the  favorite  material 
used.  Often  triangular  in  shape,  sometimes  they  ap- 
pear in  the  form  of  a  double  conoid,  with  a  groove 
around  the  middle.  These  are  usually  so  much  lighter 
than  the  net-sinkers,  and  differ  so  essentially  from 
them  in  figure,  that  they  need  not  be  confounded  with 
them.  Specimens  of  this  class  often  resemble  num- 
ber 5,  figure  132,  "Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley,"  although,  instead  of  being  notched  at 
the  upper  end,  many  have  a  groove  around  the  middle  ; 
while  others — made  of  soapstone  or  slate — are  trav- 
ersed by  longitudinal  as  well  as  transverse  grooves. 

Nearly  allied  to  the  pear-shaped  pendant  is  an  in- 
strument which,  when  first  observed  by  the  writer,  he 
regarded  as  a  pendant  whose  upper  end  had  been 
broken  off  and  then  flattened  by  attrition.  Other 
relics,  however,  identical  in  shape,  proved  that  the 
form  was  designed  and  not  accidental.  Carver  ob- 
served among  the  Indians  living  westward  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  a  warlike  implement  consisting  of  a 
stone  of  middling  size,  curiously  wrought  and  fastened 

to  the  hair,  the  nose,  the  ear,  and  the  rnaccaseene ;  and  Lawson  ("  History  of 
Carolina,"  p.  314,  Raleigh  reprint,  I860)  declares  that  some  of  the  Indians  wore 
great  bobs  in  their  ears. 


372  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN  INDIANS. 

by  a  string,  about  a  yard  and  a  half  long,  to  the  right 
arm  a  little  above  the  elbow.  Such  stones  the  natives 
carried  in  their  hands  until  they  approached  their  ene- 
mies, when,  riding  at  full  speed,  they  swung  them 
with  great  dexterity  and  never  failed  of  doing  execu- 
tion.1 

Among  the  Shoshonee  Indians,  Lewis  and  Clarke 
noticed  an  instrument  consisting  of  a  handle  about 
the  size  of  a  whip-handle,  made  of  wood,  twenty-two 
inches  long  and  covered  with  leather.  At  one  end 
was  a  thong  two  inches  in  length,  to  which  was  at- 
tached a  stone  weighing  two  pounds,  enclosed  in  a 
leather  cover.  At  the  other  end  was  a  loop  by  means 
of  which  the  implement  was  secured  to  the  wrist. 
With  this  weapon  they  struck  a  powerful  blow.  It 
may  be  that  the  pear-shaped  stones,  now  under  exam- 
ination, were  made  for  some  such  purpose,  and  that 
they  were  carried  and  handled  very  much  as  slung- 
shots  are  used  in  the  present  day.  Those  in  our  pos- 
session are  about  as  large  as  a  turkey-egg,  closely  re- 
sembling it  in  shape,  save  that  the  pointed  end  has 
been  cut  off  at  right  angles.  {See  Fig.  4,  Plate  XXII.) 
They  have  not  the  clearly-defined  necks  possessed  by 
the  relics  delineated  in  Fig.  117,  of  the  "  Ancient  Monu- 
ments of  the  Mississippi  Valley."  2  Stones,  for  throw- 
ing by  hand  and  perhaps  by  means  of  a  sling,  occur  fre- 
quently. They  are  commonly  round  or  ovoidal,  and 
appear  to  have  been  gathered  from  the  beds  of  streams 
— or  rudely  fashioned  from  soapstone. 

Amulets. — Fig.  5,  Plate  XXIL,  represents  a  class  of 
objects  frequently  found  in  Ohio  and  in  other  portions 
of  North  America,  but  seldom  seen  in  that  part  of  the 

1  "  Travels,"  etc.,  pp.  294,  295.     London,  1YY8. 
8  Pajre  219. 


AMULETS. STONE   PLATES.  373 

country  once  occupied  by  the  Southern  tribes.  Gen- 
erally made  of  a  greenish  striped  slate,  they  are,  in  most 
instances,  designed  to  represent  a  bird.  Their  use  is  not 
well  understood,  but  it  is  probable  that  they  possessed 
some  conventional  significance  and  importance  in  con- 
nection with  the  religions  ideas  of  the  Indians.  Three 
of  these  strange  articles  are  figured  on  page  239  of  the 
"  Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  and 
their  varying  forms  are  richly  shown  in  the  valuable 
collection  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution.  It  has  been 
suggested  by  some  that  they  were  used  for  husking 
Indian-corn.  This  idea  we  regard  as  entirely  fanciful. 
It  appears  much  more  probable  that  they  were  es- 
teemed and  worn  as  charms,  as  badges  of  distinction, 
or  as  religious  tokens. 

Stone  Plate. — So  far  as  our  information  extends, 
this  relic  (Fig.  6,  Plate  XXII.)  was  the  first  of  its  kind 
found  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States.  It  was 
ploughed  up  in  1859,  on  the  lower  terrace  of  the  large 
temple-mound  on  the  Etowah  River,  upon  the  planta- 
tion of  Colonel  Lewis  Tumlin,  near  Cartersville.  This 
interesting  locality  has  proved  the  thesaurus  of  more 
valuable  and  curious  aboriginal  remains  than  any  other 
spot  in  Georgia.  To  the  companionship  of  the  terraced 
mound,  the  stone  idols,  idol-pipes,  simulacra  of  various 
sorts,  fish-preserves,  gold  and  pearl  beads,  shell  orna- 
ments, ising-glass  mirrors  and  sundry  beautiful  imple- 
ments of  diorite,  hornblend,  jasper  and  flint,  may  now  be 
added  this  stone  plate,  circular  in  form,  eleven  inches  and 
a  half  in  diameter,  an  inch  and  a  quarter  in  thickness, 
and  weighing  nearly  seven  pounds.  It  is  made  of  a 
close-grained,  sea-green  slate,  and  bears  upon  its  surface 
the  stains  of  centuries.  Between  the  rim,  which  is 
scalloped,  and  the  central  portion,  are  two  circular  de- 


374  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

pressed  rings,  running  parallel  with  the  circumference 
and  incised  to  the  depth  of  the  tenth  of  an  inch.  The 
central  portion,  or  basin,  is  hollowed  out  to  the  depth 
of  rather  more  than  the  eighth  of  an  inch.  This  cir- 
cular basin,  nearly  eight  inches  in  diameter,  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  margin  or  rim,  a  little  less  than  two 
inches  in  width,  traversed  by  the  incised  rings  and 
bevelled  from  the  centre  toward  the  edge.  The  lower 
surface  or  bottom  of  the  plate  is  flat,  bevelled  upward, 
however,  as  it  approaches  the  scalloped  edge,  which  is 
not  more  than  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  thickness. 

Two  stone  plates,  similar  in  material,  size,  and 
general  configuration,  were  unearthed  in  this  locality. 
Within  the  past  eighteen  months,  two  relics  of  this 
class,  but  less  elaborate  in  their  construction  and 
smaller,  were  obtained  from  a  mound  on  the  Black 
Warrior  Eiver  in  the  State  of  Alabama.  They  now 
form  a  part  of  the  collection  of  the  Smithsonian  Insti- 
tution at  Washington. 

The  use  of  these  plates  from  the  Etowah  Valley 
may,  we  think,  be  conjectured  with  at  least  some  de- 
gree of  probability.  It  is  not  likely  that  they  were 
employed  for  domestic  or  culinary  purposes.  Their 
weight,  rarity,  the  care  evidenced  in  their  construction, 
and  the  amount  of  time  and  labor  necessarily  expended 
in  their  manufacture,  forbid  the  belief  that  they  were 
intended  as  ordinary  dishes  from  which  the  daily  meal 
was  to  be  eaten,  and  suggest  the  impression  that  they 
were  designed  to  fulfil  a  more  unusual  and  important 
office.  The  common  vessels  from  which  the  natives 
of  this  region  ate  their  prepared  food  were  bowls  and 
pans  fashioned  of  wood  and  baked  clay,  calabashes, 
pieces  of  bark,  and  large  shells.  Flat  platters,  made 
of   an  admixture  of  clay  aud   pounded  shells,  well 


OFFEEINGS    TO    IDOLS.  375 

kneaded  and  burnt,  were  ordinarily  employed  for 
baking  corn-cakes  and  frying  meat ;  but  it  does  not 
anywhere  appear  that  ornamented  stone  plates  were  in 
general  use. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  at  some  remote  period 
idol-worship  existed  among  many  of  the  Southern 
tribes.  The  religious  duty  of  offering  fruits  and  food 
to  these  lesser  deities  was  not  neglected.  We  are  told 
that  the  Virginia  Indians  represented  then*  inferior 
gods  by  the  forms  of  men,  calling  such  images  Kewa- 
sowok.  These  they  placed  in  temples,  and  in  their 
presence  worshipped,  prayed,  sung,  and  made  repeated 
offerings.1 

The  stone  column  which  Ribault  placed  upon  a 
mound  to  mark  the  limit  of  the  French  empire  in  the 
New  World,  wras  by  the  Florida  Indians  elevated  into 
the  dignity  of  a  superior  being.  From  top  to  bottom 
it  was  encircled  with  flowers  and  the  branches  of 
choicest  trees,  while  at  its  base  were  constantly  ex- 
posed offerings  of  fruits,  corn,  favorite  roots,  bows  and 
arrows,  and  earthen  vessels  filled  with  perfumed  oils.2 

While  the  sun,  as  the  most  potent  representative 
of  an  unseen  yet  acknowledged  divinity  with  supreme 
powers,  formed  the  chief  object  of  religious  worship 
among  the  ancient  tribes  who  peopled  the  Etowah 
Valley,  there  existed,  nevertheless,  images  which,  per- 
haps at  the  instance  of  designing  priests  and  conjurers, 
claimed  the  devotion  of  the  masses.  The  precise  posi- 
tion assigned  to  them  in  the  theogony  of  that  rude  age 
does  not  fully  appear;  and  yet,  from  out  the  depths  of 
that  dark  period,  comes  light  enough  to  reveal  the  fact 
that  these  idols — subordinate  though  they  were  to  the 

1  Hariot's  "  Virginia,"  p.  26.    Francoforti  ad  Moenum.     Dc  Bry,  anno  1590. 

2  Plate  viii.  of  the  "Brevis  Narratio." 


376  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

Great  Spirit  and  to  the  celestial  luminaries — were  still 
invested  with  attributes  and  influences  which  it  be- 
hooved weaker  man  to  stand  in  awe  of  and  to  propi- 
tiate. 

We  incline  to  the  opinion  that  these  stone  plates 
were  designed  for  sacred  uses,  and  that  in  them  was 
exposed  the  food  offered  to  the  Dii  Minores  of  those 
peoples  who,  antedating  the  modern  Indians — dwellers 
here  at  the  dawn  of  the  historic  period — erected  the 
large  temple-mound  in  honor  of  that  great  God  who 
mingled  not  with  men,  and  before  whose  naming  min- 
ister— the  sun — they  prostrated  themselves  in  blind 
yet  profound  adoration. 

Mica  Membranacea. — Large  plates  of  ising-glass 
are  frequently  found  in  the  sepulchral  tumuli  of  Geor- 
gia, associated  with  articles  of  use  and  ornament,  the 
property  of  the  dead  at  the  period  of  the  inhumation. 
The  largest  which  has  fallen  under  the  observation  of 
the  writer  is  elliptical  in  form,  measuring  thirteen 
inches  in  length,  ten  inches  in  width,  and  nearly  half 
an  inch  in  thickness.  Usually,  however,  these  mirrors 
— for  such  it  appears  proper  to  regard  them — are  much 
smaller.  The  customary  size  may  be  expressed  by 
seven  inches  in  length  and  five  inches  in  width. 
Often  elliptical,  they  are  sometimes  square  or  parallelo- 
grammic  in  shape,  and  at  other  times  quite  irregular  in 
their  outlines.  Being  thick,  and  readily  reflecting  the 
opposed  image,  they  answered  tolerably  well  the  pur- 
poses of  looking-glasses.  We  are  not  aware  that  any 
specimens  have  been  found  backed  by  copper  plates. 
If  originally  enclosed  in  frames,  these  were  fashioned  of 
such  perishable  materials  that  they  long  since  crumbled 
into  nothingness,  leaving  no  traces  of  their  former  pres- 
ence or  attachment.     The  frequent  occurrence  of  these 


MIRRORS    OF    MICA    MEMBRANACEA.  377 

ising-glass  mirrors,  not  only  in  the  ancient  graves  and 
mounds  but  also  upon  the  sites  of  old  Indian  villages 
and  in  relic-beds,  attests  the  fact  of  their  general  use 
among  the  aborigines.  Through  their  assistance,  the 
process  of  personal  decoration,  of  painting,  and  of  tat- 
tooing, was  materially  facilitated ;  and  it  is  not  improb- 
able that  they  formed  a  source  of  special  delight  to 
many  of  the  softer  sex,  who  even  in  that  rude  age  were 
not  ignorant  of  their  personal  charms,  or  indifferent  to 
such  artificial  aids  as  might  tend  to  enhance  their  beauty 
and  attractions  in  the  eyes  of  their  savage  admirers. 

Occasionally  a  hole  drilled  through  the  lower  edge 
of  the  plate — elongated  after  the  fashion  of  a  handle — 
assures  us  that  the  mirror  was  sometimes  suspended 
for  convenient  use,  and  that  it  was  thus  rendered  more 
apt  for  facile  transportation. 

Sculptured  Rocks. — In  Forsyth  County,  Georgia, 
is  a  carved  or  incised  bowlder  of  fine-grained  granite, 
about  nine  feet  long,  four  feet  six  inches  high,  and  three 
feet  broad  at  its  widest  point.  The  figures  are  cut  in 
the  bowlder  from  one-half  to  three-quarters  of  an  inch 
deep.    (See  illustrations,  p.  378.) 

As  yet  no  interpretation  of  these  figures  has  been 
offered,  nor  is  it  known  by  whom  or  for  what  purpose 
they  were  made.  It  is  generally  believed,  however, 
that  they  are  the  work  of  the  Cherokees.  On  the 
eastern  end  of  the  bowlder,  running  vertically,  is  a  line 
of  dots,  like  drill-holes,  eighteen  in  number,  connected 
by  an  incised  line. 

Upon  the  Enchanted  Mountain  in  Union  County, 
cut  in  plutonic  rock,  are  the  tracks  of  men,  women, 
children,  deer,  bears,  bisons,  turkeys  and  terrapins,  and 
the  outlines  of  a  snake,  of  two  deer,  and  of  a  human 
hand.     These  sculptures — so  far  as  they  have  been  as- 


378 


ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 


certained  and  counted — number  one  hundred  and  thir- 
ty-six. The  most  extravagant  among  them  is  that 
known  as  the  footprint  of  the  "  Great  Warrior."     It 


North  Side  of  Sculptured  Kock,  Forsyth  County,  Georgia. 


Smith  Side  of  the  above. 


measures  eighteen  inches  in  length,  and  has  six  toes. 
The  other  human  tracks  and  those  of  the  animals  are 
delineated  with  commendable  fidelity.  One  track — 
which  has  been  indifferently  described  as  that  of  a 
horse  and  a  buffalo — is  seventeen  inches  long.  These 
impressions  are  artificial,  and  were  scraped  or  chiselled 
out  of  the  rock  apparently  with  the  aid  of  cutting  im- 
plements of  flint.  The  accuracy  and  skill  displayed 
in  the  construction  of  some  of  them  challenge  admi- 
ration, while  others  are  clumsily  and  rudely  made. 
Most  of  them  present  the  appearance  of  the  natural 
tread  of  the  animal  in  plastic  clay.  Twenty-six  of 
these  sculptures  represent  impressions  of  human  feet — 
varying  in  length  from  four  to  seventeen  inches — all 


.     INTAGLIOS. EOCK- WELTING.  870 

of  tliem  bare,  save  one,  which  was  covered  with  a  moc- 
casin.1 

These  intaglios  closely  resemble  those  described  by 
Mr.  Ward  as  existing  upon  the  upheaved  slabs  of 
coarse  carboniferous  grit,  in  Belmont  County,  Ohio, 
near  the  town  of  Barnesville.2 

Among  the  mountains  which  fence  in  the  upper 
portion  of  Georgia,  in  several  localities,  may  still  be 
seen,  carved  in  rock,  similar  intaglios  and  rude  repre- 
sentations of  the  sun,  the  human  form  and  hand,  the 
bow  and  arrow,  the  canoe,  and  various  circles  and  ir- 
regular figures  which,  at  the  present  day,  seem  almost 
meaningless  exhibitions  of  the  fancies  of  those  by 
whom  they  were  traced. 

Intended,  doubtless — especially  when  associated  in 
groups — to  perpetuate  the  recollection  of  some  memo- 
rable event,  the  histories  which  they  chronicled  and 
the  traditions  they  were  designed  to  transmit,  have, 
like  the  peoples  who  formed  them,  quite  faded  from 
the  memory  of  succeeding  generations.  As  yet  we 
have  seen  nothing  of  this  sort  which  rises  above  the 
dignity  of  rude  picture-writing,  such  as  at  later  periods 
has  been,  in  a  more  ephemeral  way,  practised  by  the 
modern  Indians  in  commemoration  of  an  eno*a°;ement, 
in  adoration  of  the  sun,  in  token  of  an  alliance,  in  ex- 
planation of  some  marked  occurrence,  and  in  imitation 
of  some  well-known  natural  object.  We  search  in  vain 
for  alphabet,  lettered  shaft,  phonetic  sign  or  digit. 
Rude  representations  all,  they  do  but  feebly  shadow 
forth  the  earliest  efforts  at  physical  expression  of  com- 
mon incidents,  the  most  primitive  attempts  at  com- 

1  Stepheuson's  "Geology  and  Mineralogy  of  Georgia,"  pp.  199,  201.  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  1871.  White's  "Historical  Collections  of  Georgia,"  p.  058.  New  York, 
1854. 

8  Journal  of  the  Anthropological  Institute  of  New  York;  No.  1,  p.  57,  et  seq. 


380  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEKN   INDIANS. 

municating  thoughts  and  perpetuating  the  recollec- 
tion of  events  by  visible  shapes.  A  few  symbols  there 
were,  which  possessed  and  retained  an  acknowledged 
significance,  recognized  by  all. 

The  labors  of  the  aborigines  upon  the  summit  of 
Stone  Mountain,  so  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  ex- 
amine them,  seem  to  have  been  directed  not,  as  has 
been  surmised,  to  the  cutting  of  hieroglyphics  and  the 
fashioning  of  curious  figures  in  the  granite,  but  to  the 
preparation  of  little  ditches  or  trenches  for  the  protec- 
tion of  their  fires.  The  mountain  being  entirely  bald 
and  consisting  of  hard  granite,  during  a  storm  the  rain 
— unabsorbed  by  the  rock — would  flow  freely  down 
the  sides  and  soon  smother  the  fires  kindled  upon  its 
surface.  In  order  to  avoid  this  inconvenience,  the  In- 
dians resorted  to  the  expedient  of  cutting  in  the  rock 
circular  and  horseshoe-shaped  troughs  or  trenches, 
which  would  catch  the  rain-water  in  its  descent  and 
divert  it  from  the  interior  spaces  upon  which  their 
fires  were  burning.  A  marked  similarity  exists  in  the 
sizes  and  shapes  of  these  fireplaces,  which  are  scattered 
in  considerable  numbers  upon  the  summit  and  western 
slope  of  the  mountain.  They  are  generally  from  three 
to  four  feet  in  diameter,  and  are  circular,  semicircular, 
and  elliptical  in  form.  The  incised  trenches  or  ditches 
surrounding  them  are  from  four  to  seven  inches  in 
width,  and  from  two  to  three  inches  deep.  In  the 
centre  of  almost  every  hearth  is  a  fissure  in  the  rock, 
which  materially  aided  in  preserving  the  fire.  Of 
these  fissures  the  natives  availed  themselves  in  the 
location  of  their  fireplaces ;  and,  in  some  instances,  at 
no  little  labor  enlarged  them  and  formed  adjacent  ele- 
vations in  the  rock,  as  convenient  resting-places  for 
the  earthen  vessels  in  which  they  cooked  their  food. 


SCULPTURE.  881 

"We  have  thus,  in  our  opinion,  a  simple  explanation  of 
the  practical  use  of  these  incised  lines,  artificial  eleva- 
tions, and  trenches  cut  in  the  rock,  which  have  been 
supposed  by  many  to  possess  a  hidden  and  mysterious 
significance. 

The  delightful  temperature  of  this  mountain — a 
stupendous  pyramid  rising  in  austere  and  solitary 
grandeur  above  the  plain — during  the  summer  at- 
tracted the  natives.  That  it  was  a  favorite  resort  of 
the  primitive  peoples  who  in  former  centuries  occu- 
pied this  region,  is  attested  by  the  presence  of  these 
laboriously-constructed  fireplaces,  and  by  mortars,  per- 
manent in  their  character  and  hollowed  out  of  the  rock. 
This  impression  is  confirmed  by  the  traces  of  a  defen- 
sive rock-wall  which  at  one  period  fortified  the  entire 
crest  of  the  mountain. 

It  is  above  the  wall,  and  around  the  summit  of 
Stone  Mountain,  that  the  indications  of  long-continued 
occupation  by  the  red-men  are  most  abundant. 

Returning  from  this  digression,  we  would  remark 
that  in  the  stone  images,  idol,  bird,  and  animal-shaped 
pipes,  and  in  the  large  ornamented  shell-gorgets,  we 
trace  more  emphatically  than  in  any  thing  else  the 
progress  made  by  the  Southern  Indians  in  the  art  of 
sculpture.  As  the  distinguishing  peculiarities  of  these 
relics  will,  however,  be  considered  in  a  subsequent 
part  of  this  work,  it  is  unnecessary  to  anticipate  what 
will  be  said  on  the  subject.  These  various  devices 
and  imitations  in  stone  and  shell,  while  they  often  ex- 
hibit no  little  skill  and  ingenuity,  are,  after  all,  but 
rude  expressions  of  the  taste  of  the  untaught,  and  fall 
far  short  of  what  may  properly  be  considered  works  of 
art.  Few  and  feeble  were  the  attempts  to  transmit 
important  memories  by  means  of  enduring  physical 


3S2  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

signs  and  pictorial  illustrations.  Upon  the  rock- walls 
which  guard  the  confines  of  Northern  Georgia,  we  look 
in  vain  for  any  monumental  traces  of  the  history  of  the 
tribes  who  were  native  here  long  before  the  advent  of 
the  European.  Among  the  relics  intermingled  with 
the  soil  upon  which  they  dwelt,  we  search  fruitlessly 
for  a  single  tablet  whereon  were  engraven  their  laws 
or  the  names  of  their  kings,  priests,  and  warriors.  They 
lived  and  died,  peoples  without  letters,  and  the  Muse 
of  History  finds  scarce  an  epitaph  for  their  tombs. 
Trusting  to  the  trembling  voice  of  the  aged  warrior 
for  a  record  of  the  brave  deeds  of  their  ancestors,  and 
committing  to  the  memory  of  the  younger  chieftain  the 
story  of  their  present  achievements,  they  gave  to  the 
passing  wind  the  spoken  word,  but  carved  not  a  line 
and  reared  not  a  column  in  commemoration  either  of 
the  past  or  the  present.  History  is  voiceless  where 
the  use  of  iron  and  of  letters  is  unknown.  Under 
such  circumstances,  the  most  we  can  hope  to  discover 
is  comprehended  in  vague  traditions,  and  in  the  silent 
teachings  of  monuments  and  relics  which  have  escaped 
the  destructive  influences  of  time.  We  compare,  we 
conjecture,  we  speculate.     The  rest  is  darkness. 


% 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Pipes. — The  Use  of  Tobacco. — Idol  Pipes. — Calumets. — Common  Pipes. 

The  pipes  of  the  North  American  Indians  possess 
an  importance,  both  traditional  and  historic,  which, 
elevating  them  above  the  category  of  ordinary  relics, 
claims  for  them  a  moral,  religious,  and  political  value, 
which  must  be  duly  appreciated  in  forming  a  suitable 
estimate  of  their  office  and  in  comprehending  the  va- 
rious purposes  they  were  intended  to  answer.  It  is 
not  only  as  the  media  through  which  the  narcotic  in- 
uences  of  tobacco  were  imparted,  nor  as  articles  of 
pride  and  ornament  upon  which  the  protracted  labor 
and  best  skill  of  the  primitive  artists  were  expended, 
nor  yet  as  the  acknowledged  symbols  of  alternate 
peace  and  war  that  they  are  to  be  regarded.  Combin- 
ing all  these,  they  rise  higher  and  confess  themselves, 
in  their  origin,  the  immediate  gift  of  the  Great  Spirit 
by  whom  they  were  invested  with  certain  prescribed 
sanctities,  and,  in  their  uses,  fenced  about  with  positive 
injunctions  whose  non-observance  entailed  disaster  and 
supreme  displeasure.  Devotional  also  in  their  uses, 
their  agency  was  invoked  in  solemnities  which  brought 
the  red  nomad  face  to  face  with  his  Creator.  Then 
the  puffs  of  smoke  blown  to  the  four  quarters  of  the 


3S4  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

heavens  were  redolent  of  the  petitions  of  the  devotees. 
Taking  the  place  of  sacrifice,  through  them  propitia- 
tion was  made  to  an  angered  divinity.  In  sunshine 
and  abundance  they  were  the  ministers  of  gratitude — 
the  exponents  of  joy  and  thanksgiving.  Among  the 
primitive  inhabitants  of  at  least  some  of  the  Southern 
regions,  they  were  elevated  to  the  dignity  of  idols  be- 
fore whose  elaborately-carved  forms  of  man,  and  beast, 
and  bird,  the  deluded  fell  down  and  worshipped.  It 
is  only  among  the  North  American  Indians  that  such 
peculiar  historic  interest  attaches  to  the  Pipe — only 
among  the  ancient  peoples  of  this  region  that  we  lo- 
cate customs,  ceremonies,  and  traditions,  at  once  most 
curious  and  unique. 

Standing  on  the  precipice  of  the  red-pipe-stone 
rock  of  Coteau  des  Prairies,  the  Great  Spirit  broke 
from  it  a  fragment,  and,  by  merely  turning  it  in  his 
hands,  made  out  of  it  a  huge  pipe  which,  having 
smoked,  he  proclaimed  a  symbol  of  peace  among  all 
his  children,  declaring  this  stone  common  property, 
ordering  peace-pipes  to  be  fashioned  from  it,  and  for- 
bidding the  war-club  and  the  scalping-knife  to  be  lifted 
near  it.1  Prof.  Wilson 3  very  justly  remarks  that,  "  in 
the  Old  World  the  ideas  connected  with  the  tobacco- 
pipe  are  prosaic  enough.  The  chibouk  may,  at  times, 
be  associated  with  the  poetical  reveries  of  the  Oriental 
day-dreamer,  and  the  hookah  with  pleasant  fancies  of 
the  Anglo-Indian  reposing  in  the  shade  of  his  bunga- 
low ;  but  its  seductive,  antique  mystery,  and  all  its 
symbolic  significance,  pertain  to  the  New  World." 

Longfellow,  accordingly,  fitly  opens  his  Song  of 
Hiawatha  with  the  institution  of  "  the  Peace-Pipe." 

1  See  Stevens'  '<•  Flint  Chips,"  p.  522.     London,  1870. 
4  '•  Prehistoric  Man,"  p.  312.     London,  1865. 


CALUMET,    OR    PEACE-PIPE.  885 

The  Master  of  Life  descends  on  the  mountains  of  the 
prairie,  breaks  a  fragment  from  the  red  stone  of  the 
quarry,  and  fashioning  it  with  curious  art  into  a  pipe- 
head,  fills  it  with  the  bark  of  the  red-willow,  chafes 
the  forest  into  flame  with  the  tempest  of  his  breath, 
and  kindling:  it  smokes  the  calumet  as  a  signal  to  the 
nations.  The  tribes  of  the  ancient  aborigines  gather, 
at  the  divine  summons,  from  river,  lake,  and  prairie, 
to  listen  to  the  warnings  and  promises  with  which 
the  Great  Spirit  seeks  to  guide  them.  This  august 
audience  concluded,  the  warriors  having  buried  their 
war-clubs,  smoke  their  first  peace-pipe  and  depart : 

"  While  the  Master  of  Life,  ascending 
Through  the  opening  cloud-curtaius 
Through  the  door-ways  of  the  heaven, 
Vanished  from  before  their  faces, 
In  the  smoke  that  rolled  around  him, 
The  pukwana  of  the  peace-pipe." 

For  tobacco  a  divine  origin  is  said  to  have  been 
claimed  by  the  American  Indians,  who  regarded  it  as 
a  direct  gift  from  the  Great  Spirit,  for  their  special  en- 
joyment. Indeed,  according  to  Hariot,  they  believed 
^that  the  Great  Spirit  was  himself  addicted  to  the 
'habit  of  smoking.  The  pipe,  therefore,  came  to  be 
regarded  as  a  sacred  object,  and  smoking  partook  of 
the  character  of  a  moral  if  not  a  religious  act.1  The 
incense  of  tobacco  was  deemed  pleasing  to  the  Father 
of  Life,  and  the  ascending  smoke  was  selected  as  the 
most  suitable  medium  of  communication  with  the 
world  of  spirits.  The  ordinary  pipe  was  the  constant 
companion  and  the  unfailing  solace  of  the  Indian. 
Upon  the  war-path,  while  engaged   in  hunting,  and 

1  Stevens'  "Flint  Chips,"  p.  318.     London,  1S70. 
£5 


330  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

amid  the  lazy  hours  of  his  rude  home-life,  it  was 
ever  near,  ministering  to  his  pleasure  and  comforting 
him  under  misfortunes.  Its  introduction  was  essential 
to  a  formal  declaration  of  war,  and  to  the  conclusion 
of  a  treaty  of  peace.  Alternate  whiffs  were  then 
tantamount  to  a  signing  and  sealing  by  the  parties  in 
interest.  Most  important  was  the  office  of  the  Calu- 
met. No  tribal  organization,  no  solemn  assembty  was 
complete  without  it,  and  the  ceremonies  observed  in  its 
honor  were  impressive  and  conducted  with  the  utmost 
care  and  regularity. 

"  This  Calumet"  says  Father  Hennepin,1  "is  the  most 
mysterious  Thing  in  the  World  among  the  Savages  of 
the  Continent  of  the  Northern  America  ;  for  it  is  us'd  in 
all  their  important  Transactions :  However,  it  is  noth- 
ing else  but  a  large  Tobacco-Pipe  made  of  Ked,  Black 
or  White  Marble :  The  Head  is  finely  polish'd,  and 
the  Quill,  which  is  commonly  two  foot  and  a  half  long, 
is  made  of  a  pretty  strong  Keed  or  Cane,  adorn'd  with 
Feathers  of  all  Colours,  interlac'd  with  Locks  of  Wom- 
en's Hair.  They  tie  to  it  two  Wings  of  the  most  cu- 
rious Birds  they  find,  which  makes  their  Calumet  not 
much  unlike  Mercury1  s  Wand,  or  that  Staff  Ambas- 
sadors did  formerly  carry  when  they  went  to  treat 
of  Peace.  They  sheath  that  Keed  into  the  neck  of 
Birds  they  call  Hilars,  which  are  as  big  as  our  -Geese, 
and  spotted  with  Black  and  White;  or  else  of  a  sort 
of  Ducks  who  make  their  Nests  upon  Trees,  tho'  Water 
be  their  ordinary  Element,  and  whose  Feathers  are 
of  many  different  Colours.  However,  every  Nation 
adorns  the  Calumet  as  they  think  according  to  their 
own  Genius  and  the  Birds  they  have  in  their  Country. 
"A" Pipe  such  as  I  have  describ'd  it,  is  a  Pass  and 

1  "A  New  Discovery,"  etc.,  chapter  xxiv.,  pp.  93,  94.     London,  1698. 


THE    CALUMET.  387 

safe  Conduct  amongst  all  the  Allies  of  the  Nation 
who  has  given  it ;  and  in  all  Embassies,  the  Ambas- 
sadors cany  that  Calumet  as  the  Symbol  of  Peace, 
which  is  always  respected  ;  for  the  Savages  are  gener- 
ally persuaded  that,  a  great  Misfortune  would  befal 
'em  if  they  violated  the  Publick  Faith  of  the  Calumet,. 
All  their  Enterprizes,  Declarations  of  War,  or  Conclu- 
sion of  Peace,  as  well  as  all  the  rest  of  their  Ceremo- 
nies are  Sealed,  if  I  may  be  permitted  to  say  so,  with 
this  Calumet.  They  fill  that  Pipe  with  the  best  To- 
bacco they  have,  and  then  present  it  to  those  with 
whom  they  have  concluded  any  great  Affair,  and  smoak 
out  of  the  same  after  them.  I  had  certainly  perish' d 
in  my  Voyage,  had  it  not  been  for  this  Calumet  or 
Pipe." 

In  Father  Dablon's  "  Relation  of  the  Voyages,  Dis. 
coveries,  and  Death  of  Father  James  Marquette,"  we 
have  an  interesting  description  both  of  the  calumet 
and  of  the  dance  celebrated  in  its  honor.  I  adopt  the 
translation  of  Mr.  John  Gilmary  Shea : '  "It  now  re- 
mains for  me  to  speak  of  the  calumet,  than  which  there 
is  nothing  among  them  more  mysterious  or  more  es- 
teemed. Men  do  not  pay  to  the  crowns  and  sceptres 
of  kings  the  honor  they  pay  to  it ;  it  seems  to  be  the 
god  of  peace  and  war,  the  arbiter  of  life  and  death. 
Carry  it  about  you  and  show  it,  and  you  can  march 
fearlessly  amid  enemies  who  even  in  the  heat  of  battle 
lay  down  their  arms  when  it  is  shown.  Hence  the 
Ilinois  gave  me  one  to  serve  as  my  safeguard  amid 
all  the  nations  that  I  had  to  pass  on  my  voyage. 
There  is  a  calumet  for  peace  and  one  for  war,  distin- 
guished only  by  the  color  of  the  feathers  with  which 

1  "  Discovery  and  Exploration   of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  etc.,  p.  34,  et  seq. 
New  York,  1852. 


388  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEKN   INDIANS. 

they  are  adorned,  red  being  the  sign  of  war.  They 
use  thern  also  for  settling  disputes,  strengthening  alli- 
ances, and  speaking  to  strangers.  It  is  made  of  a 
polished  red  stone,  like  marble,  so  pierced  that  one  end 
serves  to  hold  the  tobacco  while  the  other  is  fastened 
on  the  stem,  which  is  a  stick  two  feet  long,  as  thick  as 
a  common  cane,  and  pierced  in  the  middle ;  it  is  orna- 
mented with  the  head  and  neck  of  different  birds  of 
beautiful  plumage  ;  they  also  add  large  feathers  of  red, 
green,  and  other  colors,  with  which  it  is  all  covered. 
They  esteem  it  particularly  because  they  regard  it  as 
the  calumet  of  the  sun  ;  and,  in  fact,  they  present  it  to 
him  to  smoke,  when  they  wish  to  obtain  calm,  or  rain, 
or  fair  weather.  They  scruple  to  bathe  at  the  begin- 
ning of  summer,  or  to  eat  new  fruits,  till  they  have 
danced  it.  They  do  it  thus: — The  Calumet  Dance, 
which  is  very  famous  among  these  Indians,  is  performed 
only  for  important  matters,  sometimes  to  strengthen  a 
peace  or  to  assemble  for  some  great  war ;  at  other  times 
for  a  public  rejoicing;  sometimes  they  do  this  honor  to 
a  nation  who  is  invited  to  be  present ;  sometimes  they 
use  it  to  receive  some  important  personage  as  if  they 
wished  to  give  him  the  entertainment  of  a  ball  or 
comedy.  In  winter  the  ceremony  is  performed  in  a 
cabin,  in  summer  in  the  open  fields.  They  select  a 
place  surrounded  with  trees,  so  as  to  be  sheltered 
beneath  their  foliage  against  the  heat  of  the  sun.  In 
the  middle  of  the  space  they  spread  out  a  large  party- 
colored  mat  of  rushes;  this  serves  as  a  carpet,  on  which 
to  place  with  honor  the  god  of  the  one  who  gives  the 
dance ;  for  every  one  has  his  own  god,  or  manitou,  as 
they  call  it,  which  is  a  snake,  a  bird  or  something  of 
the  kind,  which  they  have  dreamed  in  their  sleep,  and 
in  which  they  put  all  their  trust  for  the  success  of  their 


THE   CALUMET   DANCE.  389 

wars,  fishing  and  hunts.  Near  this  manitou,  and  at  its 
right,  they  put  the  calumet  in  honor  of  which  the  feast  is 
given,  making  around  about  it  a  kind  of  trophy,  spread- 
ing there  the  arms  used  by  the  warriors  of  these  tribes, 
namely  the  war-club,  bow,  hatchet,  quiver  and  arrows. 
Things  being  thus  arranged,  and  the  hour  for  dancing 
having  arrived,  those  who  are  to  sing,  take  the  most 
honorable  place  under  the  foliage.  They  are  the  men 
and  the  women  who  have  the  finest  voices,  and  who 
accord  perfectly.  The  spectators  then  come  and  take 
their  places  around  under  the  branches ;  but  each  one 
on  arriving  must  salute  the  manitou,  which  he  does 
by  inhaling  the  smoke,  and  then  puffing  it  from  his 
mouth  upon  it,  as  if  offering  incense.  Each  one  goes 
first,  and  takes  the  calumet  respectfully,  and,  support- 
ing it  with  both  hands,  makes  it  dance  in  cadence, 
suiting  himself  to  the  air  of  the  song ;  he  makes  it  go 
through  various  figures,  sometimes  showing^  it  to  the 
whole  assembly  by  turning  it  from  side  to  side. 

"  After  this,  he  who  is  to  begin  the  dance  appears 
in  the  midst  of  the  assembly,  and  goes  first ;  sometimes 
he  presents  it  to  the  sun,  as  if  he  wished  it  to  smoke ; 
sometimes  he  inclines  it  to  the  earth ;  and,  at  other 
times  he  spreads  its  wings  as  if  for  it  to  fly ;  at  other 
times,  he  approaches  it  to  the  mouths  of  the  spectators 
for  them  to  smoke,  the  whole  in  cadence.  This  is  the 
first  scene  of  the  ballet. 

"  The  second  consists  in  a  combat,  to  the  sound  of  a 
kind  of  drum,  which  succeeds  the  songs,  or  rather  joins 
them,  harmonizing  quite  well.  The  dancer  beckons  to 
some  brave  to  come  and  take  the  arms  on  the  mat,  and 
challenges  him  to  fight  to  the  sound  of  the  drums ;  the 
other  approaches,  takes  his  bow  and  arrow,  and  begins 
a  duel  against  the  dancer  who  has  no  defence  but  the 


390  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTIIEKN   INDIANS. 

calumet.  This  spectacle  is  very  pleasing,  especially  as 
it  is  always  done  in  time,  for  one  attacks,  the  other 
defends;  one  strikes,  the  other  parries;  one  flies,  the 
othes  pursues ;  then  he  who  fled  faces  and  puts  his 
enemy  to  flight.  This  is.  all  done  so  well,  with  meas- 
ured steps  and  the  regular  sound  of  voices  and  drums, 
that  it  might  pass  for  a  very  pretty  opening  of  a  ballet 
in  France. 

"  The  third  scene  consists  of  a  speech  delivered  by 
the  holder  of  the  calumet,  for,  the  combat  being  ended 
without  bloodshed,  he  relates  the  battles  he  was  in, 
the  victories  he  has  gained ;  he  names  the  nations,  the 
places,  the  captives  he  has  taken,  and  as  a  reward,  he 
who  presides  at  the  dance  presents  him  with  a  beauti- 
ful beaver  robe,  or  something  else,  which  he  receives, 
and  then  he  presents  the  calumet  to  another,  who 
hands  it  to  a  third,  and  so  to  all  the  rest,  till  all  hav- 
ing done  their  duty,  the  presiding  chief  presents  the 
calumet  itself  to  the  nation,  invited  to  this  ceremony 
in  token  of  the  eternal  peace  which  shall  reign  between 
the  two  tribes. 

"The  following  is  one  of  the  songs  which  they  are 
accustomed  to  sing ;  they  give  it  a  certain  expression, 
not  easily  represented  by  notes,  yet  in  this  all  its  grace 
consists : 

"  '  Ninatani,  ninahani,  ninahani, 

Naniongo.' " 

The  calumet  of  peace  was  frequently  adorned  with 
the  white  feathers  of  the  bald  eagle.  He  who  bore  it 
passed  freely,  and  without  fear  of  bodily  harm,  wher- 
ever he  pleased ;  because  this  pipe — held  sacred  by  all 
.the  tribes — rendered  the  person  of  hirn  who  carried  it 
— be  he  chief,  ambassador,  friend,  enemy,  or  stranger — 


CALUMETS.  391 

inviolable.  Red  being  the  color  of  war,  Loskiel J  tells 
us  that  in  making  peace  or  settling  alliances,  the  red 
calumet  was  "  daubed  over  with  white  clay  or  chalk." 

By  the  same  author  we  are  informed  that  if  two 
Indian  nations  entered  into  a  treaty  of  alliance,  a  pipe 
of  peace  was  exchanged  between  them,  which  was  then 
called  the  pipe  of  covenant.  It  was  carefully  preserved 
and  generally  lighted  in  council  whenever  any  thing  oc- 
curred appertaining  to  the  alliance.2  Then  each  nrem- 
ber  smoked  a  little  out  of  it.  This  reminded  them  in 
the  most  impressive  manner  of  the  covenant  and  the 
time  of  its  establishment.  The  greatest  care  was  be- 
stowed upon  the  construction  and  ornamentation  of  the 
stems  of  the  calumets  and  medicine-pipes.  No  incon- 
siderable official  dignity  attached  to  the  bearers  of 
them,  and  their  preservation  was  a  matter  of  earnest 
solicitude.  When  M.  DTberville  sought  his  first  inter- 
view with  the  Indians  of  Florida,  he  was  received  by 
their  chiefs  smoking  the  calumet  and  singing  the  song 
of  peace.  M.  Penicaut 3  thus  describes  the  pipe  used 
on  this  occasion :  "  The  calumet  is  a  stick  about  a  yard 
in  length,  or  a  hollow  cane,  ornamented  with  the  feath- 
ers of  the  paroquet,  birds  of  prey,  and  of  the  eagle. 
These  feathers,  arranged  around  the  stick,  resemble 
somewhat  the  fans  used  by  French  ladies.  At  the 
end  of  this  stick  is  a  pipe,  to  which  the  name  of  calu- 
met is  given." 

From  Father  Charlevoix 4  we  borrow  the  following 

o 

1  "History  of  the  Mission  of  the  United  Brethren  among  the  Indians  in  North 
America,"  part  1,  p.  156.     London,  1*794. 

2  "  History  of  the  Mission  of  the  United  Brethren,"   etc.,  part  1,  page  158. 
London,  179-4. 

3  "  Historical  Collections  of  Louisiana  and  Florida,"  etc.,  by  B.  F.  French.  New 
Series,  p.  38.     New  York,  1869. 

4  "Voyage  to  North  America,"  etc.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  180,  181.     Dublin,  1766. 


392  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEKN   INDIANS. 

interesting  account  of  the  character,  uses,  and  impor- 
tance of  the  calumet  among  the  North  American  In- 
dians :  "  The  Calumet  is  not  less  sacred  among  these 
People  than  the  Necklaces  of  Porcelain ;  if  you  "be- 
lieve them,  it  is  derived  from  Heaven,  for  they  say  it 
is  a  Preseut  which  was  made  them  by  the  Sun.  It  is 
m'ji'j  in  Use  with  the  Nations  of  the  South  and  West, 
than  those  of  the  North  and  East,  and  it  is  oftener 
used  for  Peace  than  for  War.  Calumet  is  a  Norman 
word,  which  signifies  JZeed,  and  the  Calumet  of  the 
Savages  is  properly  the  Tube  of  a  Pipe ;  but  they 
comprehend  under  this  Name  the  Pipe  also,  as  well  as 
its  Tube.  In  the  Calumet  made  for  Ceremony,  the 
Tube  is  very  long,  the  Bowl  of  the  Pipe  is  commonly 
made  of  a  Kind  of  reddish  Marble,  very  easy  to  work, 
and  which  is  found  in  the  Country  of  the  Ajouez,  be- 
yond the  Jfississijtyi'  The  Tube  is  of  a  light  Wood 
painted  of  different  Colours,  and  adorned  with  the 
Heads,  Tails  and  Feathers  of  the  finest  Birds,  which  is 
in  all  Appearance  merely  for  Ornament.  The  Custom 
is  to  smoke  in  the  Calumet  when  you  accept  it,  and 
perhaps  there  is  no  Instance  where  the  Agreement  has 
been  violated  which  was  made  by  this  Acceptation. 
The  Savages  are  at  least  persuaded  that  the  Great 
Spirit  would  not  leave  such  a  Breach  of  Faith  unpun- 
ished. If  in  the  midst  of  a  Battle  the  Enemy  presents 
a  Calumet,  it  is  allowable  to  refuse  it,  but  if  they  re- 
ceive it,  they  must  instantly  lay  down  their  Arms. 
There  are  Calumets  for  every  Kind  of  Treaty.  In 
Trade,  when  they  have  agreed  upon  the  Exchange, 
they  present  a  Calumet  to  confirm  it,  which  renders  it 
in  some  Manner  sacred.  When  it  concerns  War,  not 
only  the  Tube,  but  the  Feathers  also  that  adorn  it  are 
red.     Sometimes  they  are  only  set  on  one  Side ;  and 


CALUMETS.  393 

they  say  that  according  to  the  Manner  in  which  the 
Feathers  are  disposed,  they  immediately  know  what 
Nation  it  is  that  presents  it ;  and  whom  they  intend  to 
attack.  There  is  scarce  any  Room  to  doubt  but  that 
the  Savages  in  making  those  smoke  in  the  Calumet 
with  whom  they  would  trade  or  treat  intend  to  take 
the  Sun  for  Witness,  and  in  some  Measure  for  a  Guar- 
antee of  their  Treaties ;  for  they  never  fail  to  blow 
the  Smoke  towards  the  Planet."  Overlooking  or  else 
disregarding  the  current  tradition  that  the  pipe  was 
the  direct  gift  of  the  Great  Spirit  delivered  at  first 
with  specific  injunctions  and  to  be  used  on  all  impor- 
tant occasions  with  becoming  solemnity,  and  always 
with  the  greatest  good  faith,  our  author  is  of  opinion 
that  the  Indians  "  having  found  by  Experience  that  the 
Smoke  of  their  Tobacco  draws  Vapours  from  the  Brain, 
makes  the  Head  clearer,  rouses  the  Spirits  and  makes 
us  fitter  to  treat  of  Affairs,"  for  this  reason  introduced 
its  use  into  their  councils  ;  and  that  "  after  having 
gravely  deliberated  and  taken  their  Resolution  they 
thought  they  could  never  find  a  Symbol  fitter  to  put 
a  Seal  to  their  Determinations,  or  any  Pledge  more 
capable  of  confirming  the  Execution  of  them  than  the 
Instrument  which  had  so  much  Share  in  their  Delibera- 
tions. ...  To  smoke  in  the  same  Pipe  therefore  in 
Token  of  Alliance  is  the  same  Thing  as  to  drink  in  the 
same  Cup,  as  has  been  practised  at  all  Times  by  many 
Nations." 

When  Columbus  was  upon  the  coast  of  Cuba  he 
beheld  several  of  the  natives  going  about  with  fire- 
brands in  their  hands,  and  certain  dried  herbs  which 
they  rolled  up  in  a  leaf,  and  lighting  one  end  put  the 
other  in  their,  mouths  and  continued  inhaling  and 
puffing  out  the  smoke.     A  roll  of  this  kind  they  called 


394  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

a  tobacco,  a  name  since  transferred  to  the  plant  of 
which  the  rolls  were  made.  The  Spaniards,  although 
prepared  to  meet  with  wonders,  were  struck  with  as- 
tonishment at  this  singular  and  apparently  nauseous 
indulgence.1 

In  his  chapter  upon  the  nations  and  tongues  of 
Florida,  Cabeca  de  Vaca  states  that  the  natives  every- 
where "  produce  stupefaction  with  a  smoke,  and  for 
that  they  will  give  whatever  they  possess."  2  This  al- 
lusion— brief  and  vague  although  it  be — has  reference 
to  the  use  of  tobacco,  and  assures  us  emphatically  both 
of  the  fondness  of  the  Indians  for  that  weed,  and  of 
the  extravagant  degree  in  which  they  subjected  them- 
selves to  its  narcotic  influences. 

One  of  the  oldest  references  to  Indian  pipes  is  con- 
tained in  the  "  Brevis  Narratio  "  of  Le  Moyne  de  Mor- 
gues. Plate  xx.  represents  various  methods  of  cur- 
ing the  sick.  An  Indian  is  seated,  smoking  a  pipe.  A 
woman  offers  him  some  tobacco-leaves.  The  text  is  as 
follows :  "  Quandam  etiam  planta  habent  cujus  nomen 
excidit,  Brasiliani  Petum,  Hispani  Tapaco  appellant : 
hujus  folia  probe  siccata  laxiori  tubuli  parti  imponunt, 
eorurn  incensorum  fumum  angustiore  tubuli  parte  ori 
admota  attrahunt  tarn  valide,  ut  per  os  &  nares  illis 
egrediatur,  &  eadem  opera  abunde  humores  eliciat." 
This  passage  may  be  translated  thus :  "  They  have  also 
a  certain  plant  whose  name  I  have  forgotten — the  Bra- 
zilians call  it  Petum,  the  Spaniards  Tapaco — whose 
well-dried  leaves  they  place  in  the  wider  portion  of  a 
tube.  Having  ignited  these,  they  apply  the  narrower 
part  of  the  tube  to  the  mouth  and  draw  out  the  fume 

1  Irving's  "Life  and  Voyages  of  Columbus,"  vol.  i.,  p.  184.  New  York,  1849 — 
quoting  from  "Navarrete,"  tome  i.,  p.  51.  • 

a  "  Relation  "  of  Alvar  Nunez  Cabeca  de  Vaca,  translated  by  Buckingham 
Smith,  p.  138.     New  York,  1871. 


PIPES. TOBACCO.  395 

so  vigorously,  that  it  escapes  through  the  mouth  and 
nostrils,  and  thus  removes  much  humidity." 

We  have  also,  in  the  first  volume  of  De  Bry,  an- 
other representation  of  an  Indian  pipe.  It  is  not  un- 
like the  short  clay-pipe  of  the  present  day,  so  much  in 
vogue  among  the  Irish  laborers.  Beverly,  in  his  "  His- 
tory of  the  Present  State  of  Virginia,"  has  reproduced 
this  illustration.1 

The  illustration  which  faces  page  7  of  the  third 
book  contains  two  representations  of  the  pipe  of  peace  ; 
and  Father  Hennepin,  in  the  frontispiece  to  his  "  New 
Discovery,"  figures  a  naked  Indian  holding  in  his 
hands  the  plumed  calumet.  Carver2  has  furnished  us 
with  a  drawing  of  the  pipe  of  peace. 

In  the  early  narratives  smoking  is  alluded  to  rath- 
er as  a  curative  process  or  public  ceremony,  than  as  a 
matter  of  habit  or  enjoyment  among  the  natives. 
The  ignorance  of  the  times  and  the  novelty  of  the 
custom  furnish  plausible  excuse  for  the  mistake. 

In  his  "  Briefe  and  True  Report  of  the  New-found 
Land  of  Virginia,"  3  Hariot  thus  quaintly  describes  "  an 
herbe  which  is  sowed  apart  by  itselfe,  and  is  called  by 
the  inhabitants  Uppowoc  :  In  the  West  Indies  it  hath 
diuers  names  according  to  the  seuerall  places  and 
countries  where  it  groweth  and  is  vsed ;  The  Spaniardes 
generally  call  it  Tobacco.  The  leaues  thereof  being 
dried  and  brought  into  powder,  they  vse  to  take  the 
fume  or  smoke  thereof  by  sucking  it  through  pipes 
made  of  claie,  into  their  stomacke  and  heade;  from 
whence  it  purgeth  superfluous  fleame  and  other  grosse 
humors,  openeth  all  the  pores  and  passages  of  the 

1  See  Tab.  10,  book  iii.,  p.  17.    London,  1*705. 

a  "  Travels,"  etc.,  p.  296.     London,  1118. 

3  Page  16.     Francoforti  ad  Mcenum.     De  Bry,  anno  1590. 


396  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

body  :  by  which  meanes  the  vse  thereof,  not  only  pre- 
serueth  the  body  from  obstructios,  but  also  if  any  be 
so  that  they  haue  not  beene  of  too  long  continuance, 
in  short  time  breaketk  them :  wherby  their  bodies 
are  notably  preserued  in  health,  and  know  not  rnany 
greeuous  diseases,  wherewithall  wee  in  England  are 
oftentimes  afflicted.  This  Uppowoc  -is  of  so  precious 
estimation  amongest  them  that  they  thinke  their  gods 
are  maruelously  delighted  therewith ;  Whereupon 
sometime  they  make  hallowed  fires,  and  cast  some  of 
the  pouder  therein  for  a  sacrifice :  being  in  a  storme 
uppon  the  waters,  to  pacifie  their  gods,  they  cast  some 
vp  into  the  aire  and  into  the  water ;  so  a  weare  for 
fish  being  newly  set  vp,  they  cast  some  therein,  and 
into  the  aire ;  also  after  an  escape  of  danger  they  cast 
some  into  the  aire  likewise ;  but  all  done  with  strange 
gestures,  stamping,  sometime  dauncing,  clapping  of 
hands,  holding  vp  of  hands,  and  staring  vp  into  the 
heauens,  vttering  therewithal,  and  chattering  strange 
words  and  noises." 

In  the  voyage  of  Sir  Francis  Drake,  it  is  mentioned 
that  some  of  the  North  American  Indians  "  brought  a 
little  basket  made  of  rushes,  and  filled  with  an  herbe 
which  they  called  Tobali ;  "  and  Drake  afterward  adds : 
"  They  came  now  the  second  time  to  us,  bringing  with 
them  as  before  had  been  done,  feathers  and  bags  of 
Tobali  for  presents,  or  rather  indeed  for  sacrifices,  upon 
this  persuasion  that  we  were  gods." '  Admitting  the 
devotional,  propitiatory,  religious,  political,  medicinal, 
and  social  uses  to  which  the  pipe,  in  its  various  forms, 
was  dedicated ;  conceding  the  divine  origin  claimed 
both  for  it  and  tobacco,  and  granting  that  around 
them  clustered  superstitions  and  ceremonies  unique  in 

1  Quoted  in  Stevens'  "  Flint  Chips,"  pp.  318,  319.     Londoi:,  IS70. 


MANUFACTURE   OF   PIPES.  397 

their  character  and  powerful  in  their  influences,  it  is 
nevertheless  true  that  among  the  North  American  (and 
particularly  the  Southern)  Indians,  smoking  constituted, 
from  the  earliest  times,  a  sensual  enjoyment.     Among 

■^their  personal  effects  a  pipe  was  frequently,  if  not 
always,  reckoned;  and  the  narcotic  influences  of  to- 
bacco were  sought  after  with  an  avidity  engendered 
only  by  confirmed  habit. 

The  Choctaws  raised  tobacco  to  such  an  extent 
that  they  sometimes  sold  it  to  the  traders.  When 
using  it  for  smoking,  they  mixed  it  with  the  leaves  of 
two  species   of  the   cariaria,  or  of  the  liquidambar 

\  styraciflua.  The  pipe  was  in  common  use  among 
them,  and  in  some  shape  or  other  was  the  symbol  of 
peace,  friendship,  and  social  conversation.  The  first 
civility  offered  by  the  Muscogees  to  a  stranger  was  a 
pipe,  and  this,  when  accepted,  was  followed  by  "  a  dish 
of  venison  and  homany."  *  Speaking  of  the  rnanulac- 
ture  of  pipes  by  the  Southern  Indians,  Mr.  Adair8 
affirms  that  "  they  make  beautiful  stone  pipes ;  and 
the  Cheerake  the  best  of- any  of  the  Indians:  for  their 

.mountainous  country  contains  many  different  sorts  and 

^*  colours  of  soils  proper  for  such  uses.  They  easily  form 
them  with  their  tomohawks,  and  afterward  finish  them 
in  any  desired  form  with  their  knives ;  the  pipes  being 
of  a  very  soft  quality  till  they  are  smoked  with  and 
used  to  fire,  when  they  become  quite  hard.  They  are 
often  a  full  span  long,  and  the  bowls  are  about  half 
as  large  again  as  those  of  our  English  pipes.  The  fore- 
part of  each  commonly  runs  out  with  a  sharp  peak,  two 
or  three  fingers  broad,  and  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick. 

1  "A  Concise  Natural  History  of  East  and  West  Florida,"  etc.,  by  Captain 
Bernard  Romans.    New  York,  1775. 

2  "History  of  the  American  Indians,"  etc.,  pp.  423,  424.     London,  1775. 


398  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEKN   INDIANS. 

On  both  sides  of  the  bowl,  lengthwise,  they  cut  sev- 
eral pictures  with  a  great  deal  of  skill  and  labour; 
such  as  a  buffalo  and  a  panther  on  the  opposite  sides 
of  the  bowl ;  a  rabbit  and  a  fox ;  and,  very  often,  a 
man  and  a  woman  puris  naturalibus.  Their  sculpture 
cannot  much  be  commended  for  its  modesty.  The 
savages  work  so  slow,  that  one  of  their  artists  is  two 
months  at  a  pipe  with  his  knife,  before  he  finishes  it ; 
indeed,  as  before  observed,  they  are  great  enemies  to 
profuse  sweating,  and  are  never  iu  a  hurry  about  a 
good  thing.  The  stems  are  commonly  made  of  soft 
wood  about  two  feet  long,  and  an  inch  thick,  cut  into 
four  squares,  each  scooped  till  they  join  very  near  the 
hollow  of  the  stem ;  the  beaus  always  hollow  the 
squares,  except  a  little  at  each  corner,  to  hold  them 
together,  to  which  they  fasten  a  parcel  of  bell-buttons, 
different  sorts  of  fine  feathers,  and  several  small  bat- 
tered pieces  of  copper  kettles  hammered  round,  deer- 
skin thongs,  and-  a  red  painted  scalp :  this  is  a  boast- 
ing, valuable  and  superlative  ornament.  According  to 
their  standard,  such  a  pipe  constitutes  the  possessor  a 
grand  beau.  They  so  accurately  carve  or  paint  hiero- 
glyphic characters  on  the  stem,  that  all  the  war  actions 
and  the  tribe  of  the  owner,  with  a  great  many  circum- 
stances of  things,  are  fully  delineated." 

When  Lieutenant  Timberlake,  in  17G1,  was  pre- 
sented to  the  Cherokees  he  was  complimented  with 
many  professions  of  friendship  and  a  string  of  beads. 
The  pipe-dance  was  celebrated  in  his  honor.  The  bowl 
of  the  pipe  used  on  this  occasion  "  was  of  red  stone, 
-^  curiously  cut  with  a  knife." 

He  saw  other  pipes  made  of  black  stone,  and  some 
manufactured  from  "  the  same  earth  they  make  their 
pots  with,  but   beautifully  diversified.     The  stem  is 


MANUFACTURE    OF   PIPES.  399 

about  three  feet  long,  finely  adorned  with  porcupine 
quills,  dyed  feathers,  deer's  hair,  and  such  like  gaudy 
trifles.'"  Having  smoked  the  peace-calumet,  he  adds, 
"  I  was  almost  suffocated  with  the  pipes  presented  me 
on  every  hand,  which  I  dared  not  to  decline.  They 
might  amount  to  about  170  or  180;  which  made  me 
so  sick  that  I  could  not  stir  for  several  hours."  * 

Lawson  informs  us  that  among  the  Carolina  In- 
dians the  women  were  addicted  to  smoking.  "  They 
have  pipes,"  says  he,  "whose  heads  are  cut  out  of 
^  stone,  and  will  hold  an  ounce  of  tobacco,  and  some 
much  less."  The  same  author  perpetuates  the  fact 
that  by  these  Southern  Indians  tobacco-pipes  were 
manufactured  of  clay  with  the  express  object  of  trans- 
jwrting  them  into  distant  regions  and  there  exchanging 
them  with  other  Indians  for  raw  skins,  etc.8  Shortly 
after  their  primal  intercourse  with  the  whites,  the  red- 
men,  in  many  localities,  appear  to  have  adopted  the 
shape  of  the  European  pipe,  as  being  more  convenient 
than  that  formerly  in  vogue  with  them.  As  a  matter 
of  history  it  may  be  stated  that  the  common  clay  pipe 
of  commerce  was,  immediately  upon  its  introduction, 
eagerly  sought  after  by  the  Indians  ;  and  thus  it  came 
to  pass  that  those  who  were  visited  by  the  traders,  or 
who  enjoyed  facile  communication  with  the  colonists, 
speedily  abandoned  the  general  manufacture  of  pipes, 
retaining,  however,  their  calumets,  and  perpetuating 
the  different  ceremonies,  uses,  and  traditions  with 
which  they  were  so  intimately  associated. 

In  the  olden  time  the  Indian  evidently  laid  great 
store  by  his  pipe.  For  its  construction  the  choicest 
material  was  often  selected.     This  he  collected  not  in- 

1  "  Memoirs,"  etc.,  pp.  38,  39.     London,  1765. 

2  "History  of  Caroliua,"  pp.  55,  338.     Raleigh  reprint,  1860. 


400  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE   SOUTHEKN   INDIANS. 

frequently  at  a  great  remove  from  his  home,  and  in 
fashioning  and  polishing  the  bowl  days  and  months 
of  labor  and  skill  were  consumed.  Upon  the  stem, 
also,  the  ingenuity  and  taste  of  the  owner  were  ex- 
hausted. The  presence  of  stone  pipes  in>  mounds  at  a 
distance  of  sometimes  several  hundred  miles  from  the 
locality  whence  the  material  of  which  they  were  manu- 
factured could  have  been  procured,  fully  attests  the 
fact  that  a  trade  must  have  existed  among  the  abo- 
rigines in  these  highly-esteemed  articles.  It  has  been 
more  than  hinted  by  at  least  one  person  whose  state- 
ment is  entitled  to  every  belief,  that  among  the  Chero- 
kees,  dwelling  in  -the  mountains,  there  existed  certain 
artists  whose  professed  occupation  was  the  manufac- 
ture of  large  stone  pipes,  which  were  by  them  trans- 
ported to  the  coast  and  there  bartered  away  in  exchange 
for  articles  of  use  and  ornament,  foreign  to,  and  highly 
esteemed  among,  the  members  of  their  own  tribe.  It 
will  be  readily  observed  that,  in  selecting  materials 
for  their  stone  pipes,  the  Indians  chose  such  varieties 
as  were  best  calculated  to  withstand  the  continued  ac- 
tion of  heat.  This  was  undoubtedly  the  result  of  act- 
ual experiment.  In  the  absence  of  cutting  and  boring 
implements  of  metal,  the  construction  of  a  pipe  out  of 
hard  stone  was  a  difficult  and  tedious  undertaking. 
The  constant  and  prolonged  attrition  required  to  re- 
duce it  to  its  .desired  proportions,  the  labor  necessary 
for  tracing  the  ornamental  lines  and  hollowing  out  the 
bowl  and  the  hole  for  the  insertion  of  the  stem  simply 
with  the  aid  of  some  rude  flint  implement,  and  the  toil 
involved  in  imparting  that  degree  of  polish  character- 
istic of  so  many  of  the  more  elaborate  pipes,  were  all 
known  to  the  primitive  j)ipe-niaker.  In  order,  there- 
fore, to  avoid,  as  far  as  possible,  the  chances  of  losing 


CLASSIFICATION    OF   PIPES.  401 

Ins  pipes  at  an  early  day  by  their  cracking  under  the 
influence  of  heat,  he  availed  himself  of  the  experience 
of  his  forefathers,  and  selected  such  varieties  of  stone 
as  would,  best  subserve  his  purpose,  and  at  the  same 
time  most  certainly  perpetuate  the  results  of  his  taste 
and  industry. 

The  mound-pipes;  described  by  Messrs.  Squier  and. 
Davis,1  exhibit  a  degree  of  art  and  skill  unexcelled  by 
any  other  sj)ecimens  of  ancient  pipes  fashioned  by  the 
North  American  Indians. 

Passing  from  these  general  observations  we  turn  to 
an  examination  of  the  antique  pipes  found  within  the 
present  geographical  limits  of  Georgia.  From  the 
numbers  taken  from  mounds,  seen  in  refuse-piles  and 
ploughed  up  in  the  fields,  it  may  be  confidently  as- 
serted that  the  Indians  of  this  region  were  generally 
addicted  to  smoking.  From  the  earliest  historic  pe- 
riod the  pipe  was  their  almost  invariable  companion, 
and  its  intimate  association  with  the  oldest  monu- 
ments proves  that  there  was  no  epoch  when  its  use  was 
unknown  to  their  ancestors.  These  pipes  may  appro- 
priately be  divided,  into  three  classes :  First  in  inter- 
est and  in  art  is  the  Idol-Pipe.  This  is  rarely  seen,  and 
only  in  localities  where,  in  the  distant  past,  dwelt  peo- 
ples to  all  appearances  more  permanent  in  their  seats 
and  tribal  organizations,  more  agricultural  in  their  pur- 
suits, more  addicted  to  the  construction  of  large  tumuli, 
and  superior  in  their  degree  of  semi-civilization,  to  the 
nomads  who  occupied  the  soil  at  the  date  of  European 
colonization.  Specimens  of  such  j>ipes  are  as  infre- 
quent as  stone  images,  and  it  is  probable  that  they 
should  both  be  referred  in  their  origin  to  the  handi- 

1  "Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  vol.  i. ;  "Smithsonian  Con- 
tributions to  Knowledge,"  pp.  251-272.     Washington,  1848. 


402  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

work  and  superstition  of  the  primitive  men  who  threw 
up  those  large  mounds  which  tower  along  the  banks  of 
the  Etowah  and  lift  their  imposing  forms  from  out  the 
level  of  several  other  valleys  in  Georgia.  They  are  al- 
ways associated,  so  far  as  our  knowledge  extends,  with 
the  large  pentagonal  and  quadrangular  mounds,  and 
with  those  older  monuments — be  they  watch-towers, 
sepulchral  tumuli,  temples,  consecrated  spaces,  enclosed 
areas,  defensive  works  or  play-grounds — of  whose  age 
and  objects  the  later  Indian  tribes  cherished  not  even 
a  tradition.  The  best  idol-pipes  we  have  seen  were 
ploughed  up  near  the  base  of  the  pentagonal  mound, 
within  the  enclosure  formed  by  the  moat  and  the 
Etowah  River,  upon  the  plantation  of  Colonel  Lewis 
Tumlin,  near  Cartersville,  Georgia.  A  description  of 
this  interesting  locality  has  already  been  given.  Un- 
fortunately, an  opportunity  for  presenting,  a  proper 
account  and  of  fio-urino;  these  relics  is  now  denied. 
During  the  summer  of  1859,  the  author  enjoyed  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  three  of  these  pipes  at  the  residence 
of  Colonel  Tumlin.  Amid  the  devastations  consequent 
upon  the  invasion  of  Georgia  by  the  Federal  armies, 
in  1864,  these,  with  other  valuable  relics,  were  either 
destroyed  or  carried  away  by  the  soldiers. 

Writing  from  recollection,  it  may  be  stated  that 
these  particular  idol-pipes  were  made,  two  of  them  of 
serpentine  and  the  other  of  mica  slate.  They  varied  in 
height  from  three  and  a  half  to  five  inches,  in  breadth 
from  two  and  a  half  to  three  inches,  and  in  length  from 
'three  to  four  inches.  In  each  instance  a  human  figure 
was  represented  in  a  sitting  posture — knees  drawn  up 
— elbows  resting  upon  the  knees,  and  the  extended 
hands  presenting  and  clasping  an  urn-shaped  bowl. 
These  bowls  were  about  two  inches  in  diameter,  and, 


IDOL-PIPES.  403 

disguising  the  sex,  rested  upon  the  abdomen  and  lower 
part  of  the  breast.  The  head,  rising  somewhat  above 
the  level  of  the  top  of  the  bowl,  was  thrown  back- 
ward. The  chin  and  forehead  were  both  retreating ; 
eyes  large  and  upturned — ears  prominent.  The  fore- 
head was  low,  broad  and  bald.  The  hair,  collected 
from  all  sides,  was  confined  at  the  top  of  the  head,  and 
thence  falling  backward  was  gathered  into  a  sort  of 
knot  below.  The  countenances  were  decidedly  idiotic, 
and  yet  the  devotional  idea  was  forcibly  expressed  in 
the  attitude  and  general  appearance  of  these  rude  idol- 
pipes — incense  offering  to  an  unseen  yet  acknowledged 
Deity.  To  these  exhibitions  of  his  skill  the  primitive 
sculptor  had  imparted  a  considerable  degree  of  pol- 
ish. The  perforation  for  the  stem  passed  below  the 
shoulders  through  the  back  and  belly  into  the  bottom 
of  the  bowl.  At  its  inception  it  was  three-quarters 
of  an  inch  in  diameter,  gradually  lessening  as  it  deep- 
ened, until,  at  the  point  where  it  entered  the  bowl,  it 
was  scarcely  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  width.  These 
pipes  were  obviously  very  old ;  and  in  all  likelihood 
antedated,  by  an  indefinite  period  of  time,  the  occu- 
pancy of  this  valley  by  the  Cherokees.  So  far  as  re- 
corded observation  extends,  nothing  like  them  was 
noted  in  the  use  or  possession  of  the  modern  Indians. 
There  are  at  least  plausible  grounds  for  believing  that 
the*  ancient  peoples  who  piled  up  these  august  tumuli 
along  the  banks  of  the  Etowah,  and  departing  left  be- 
hind them  enduring  monuments  of  their  combined 
labor  for  a  wonder  and  an  enigma  to  later  tribes,  may 
have  borrowed  some  of  their  ideas  of  sun-worship, 
idolatry,  agriculture,  and  of  art  directly  or  indirectly 
from  the  Southern  cradle  of  American  civilization. 
In  the  second  class  we  include  Calumets  and  large 


404  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

pipes  whose  size  suggests  the  impression  that  they  did 
not  generally  accompany  the  owner,  but  were  carried 
only  on  special  occasions,  and  used  when  prescribed 
ceremonies  of  a  political,  religious,  medicinal,  or  war- 
like character  were  to  be  observed.  Varying  in  form 
and  weight,  such  pipes  are  found  both  in  the  fields  and 
in  mounds.  As  a  general  rule,  the  more  remarkable  of 
them  may  be  regarded  as  the  public  property  of  the 
tribe ;  still,  their  presence  in  conical  earth-mounds  con- 
taining but  a  single  skeleton,  would  seem  to  indicate 
that  some  of  them  were  the  private  property  of  noted 
personages — perhaps  chiefs  and  medicine-men.  It  is 
scarcely  probable  that  the  public  peace-pipe  would 
have  been  liable  to  inhumation.  Among  the  most 
curious  of  this  class  are  the  bird-shaped  pipes  of  which 
Figs.  1,  2,  and  3,  Plate  XXIII.,  may  be  regarded  as  in- 
teresting specimens.  The  first  (Fig.  1)  made  of  ser- 
pentine, is  seven  inches  and  a  half  from  the  tip  of  the 
beak  to  the  end  of  the  tail,  three  inches  in  height  to 
the  top  of  the  bowl,  and  two  inches  and  two-tenths 
in  width  just  in  rear  of  the  bowl.  The  bowl  is  an 
inch  and  a  half  in  diameter  at  the  top,  circular  in 
shape,  and  an  inch  and  five-eighths  in  depth.  The 
walls  of  the  bowl  are  three-eighths  of  an  inch  in  thick- 
ness. The  aperture  for  the  stem,  commencing  under 
the  tail,  passes  longitudinally  through  the  body  of  the 
pipe  until  it  intersects  the  bowl  at  its  bottom.  "  At 
its  inception  this  aperture  is  an  inch  in  diameter,  grad- 
ually lessening  as  it  deepens,  until  at  the  point  where 
it  communicates  with  the  bowl  it  is  only  a  quarter  of 
an  inch  in  width.  The  weight  of  this  pipe  is  nearly 
two  pounds. 

The  length  of  the  second  (Fig.  2)  does  not  vary  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  from  that  of  the  first.     Its  weight 


FLateMW. 


■  /'HoroLUHOGHAPHIC  CO  NY,  OSBORHES PROCESS 


CALUMETS    AND    BIRD-SHAPED    PIPES.  405 

exceeds,  however,  by  rather  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
pound,  and  its  height  is  three  inches  and  three-quar- 
ters. The  shape  of  the  bowl  is  elliptical — its  walls 
being  half  an  inch  thick.  In  depth  this  bowl  meas- 
ures two  inches  and  a  quarter.  Its  diameters  at  the 
top,  reckoned  respectively  in  the  direction  of  the  ma- 
jor and  minor  axes  of  the  ellipse,  are  an  inch  and  a 
half  and  an  inch  and  three-tenths.  The  perforation 
for  the  stem  is  also  elliptical,  its  greatest  and  least  di- 
ameters beino;  six-eighths  and  nve-eio-hths  of  an  inch. 
This  aperture  is  half  an  inch  in  diameter  where  it  en- 
ters the  bowl.  This  pipe  is  made  of  serpentine,  and, 
like  the  former,  has  been  carefully  polished. 

The  third  pipe  (Fig.  3)  is  of  oolite,  of  a  cream- 
color,  and  weighs  two  pounds  and  a  half  avoirdupois. 
It  is  six  inches  and  a  half  in  length,  and  about  four 
inches  high.  The  walls  of  the  bowl  are  half  an  inch 
in  thickness,  and  the  bowl — circular  in  form — possesses 
a  diameter  of  an  inch  and  three-eighths,  and  a  depth 
of  two  inches  and  a  half.  In  rear  of  the  bowl  this 
pipe  is  nearly  three  inches  in  thickness.  The  aperture 
for  the  stem  is  rather  more  than  three-quarters  of  an 
inch  in  diameter  at  its  inception  below  the  tail,  and  is 
diminished  to  half  an  inch  at  the  point  where  it  enters 
the  bowl.  While  resting  upon  the  flattened  beak, 
breast,  and  clumsily-represented  legs,  this  seems  only 
a  bird-pipe.  If,  however,  we  change  the  position, 
placing  it  upon  the  feet  and  tail,  and  turning  the  bowl 
away  from  us,  this  pipe  at  once  assumes  an  entirely 
different  aspect,  apparently  foreign  to  its  ordinary  uses, 
and  seems  to  assert  its  right  to  be  classed  among  the 
idol-pipes.  This  modified  view  is  presented  in  Fig. 
4,  Plate  XXIII.  This  pipe  was  found  in  the  Chatta- 
hoochee Valley,  several  miles  below  the  city  of  Coluni- 


406  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

bus.  The  other  two  pipes  were  taken  from  mounds, 
one  in  Bibb  County,  and  the  other  in  Greene.  The 
duck  seemed  to  be  the  bird  which  most  frequently 
enlisted  the  imitative  powers  of  the  Indians  of  this 
region.  At  other  times  the  bear  and  the  cougar,  and 
the  "  human  face  divine,"  engaged  the  skill  of  the  primi- 
tive artist. 

Of  the  ordinary  forms  of  calumets,  Figs.  5,  6,  7,  8, 
and  9,  Plate  XXIIL,  may  be  regarded  as  typical. 
Fig.  5  consists  of  a  stone  composed  of  mica  and  dark 
brown  felspar.  This  pipe  is  five  inches  high,  nearly 
four  inches  long,  and  an  inch  and  a  quarter  wide  at 
the  bottom,  which  is  entirely  flat,  so  that  the  pipe 
readily  remains  in  an  upright  position.  The  bowl  is 
circular,  its  diameter  at  the  top  being  an  inch  and  a 
quarter,  and  its  depth  rather  more  than  three  inches  and 
a  half.  The  walls  of  the  bowl  are  three-quarters  of  an 
inch  thick.  The  aperture  for  the  stem  is  also  circu- 
lar, and  three-quarters  of  an  inch  in  diameter  at  the 
opening. 

Number  6,  composed  of  gneiss,  is  five  inches  in 
height,  and  five  inches  in  length.  The  bowl  is  square, 
or  very  nearly  so,  .the  length  of  each  side  being  about 
an  inch  and  a  quarter.  Six-tenths  of  an  inch  will  ex- 
press the  average  thickness  of  the  walls  at  the  top. 
The  bowl  is  rather  more  than  three  inches  and  three 
quarters  in  depth.  This  pipe  also  readily  maintains  an 
upright  position,  being  flat  at  the  bottom,  which  is  an 
inch  and  three-quarters  wide.  The  opening  for  the 
stem  is  circular,  and,  at  its  beginning,  is  an  inch  and  a 
quarter  in  diameter.  -Fig.  7  represents  a  very  fine 
calumet  of  steatite,  four  inches  and  three-quarters  in 
height,  four  inches  and  a  half  in  length,  and  about  two 
inches  wude.     The   circular  bowl    is   two   inches    in 


CALUMETS.  407 

diameter,  and  the  walls  are  not  less  than  half  an  inch 
in  thickness.  The  bottoms  of  all  these  pipes  are  flat, 
and  the  bowls,  with  the  exception  of  Fig.  9  (of  soap- 
stone),  are  at  right  angles  with  the  stem. 

Many  of  the  pipes  of  this  class  are  made  of  mica 
slate  and  soap-stone.  The  latter  material  being  easily 
worked  and  generally  accessible,  seems  to  have  been 
held  in  especial  esteem.  Various  are  the  devices  and 
ornamentations  traced  upon  the  sides  and  faces  of  the 
soapstone  pipes.  Fig.  8,  Plate  XXIII.,  furnishes  an 
example  in  point.  Upon  its  bottom  the  paw  of  a  bear 
is  traced.  In  front  are  square,  circular,  elliptical,  and 
parallelograinrnic  figures,  and  the  upper  portion  and 
sides  are  ornamented  with  various  incised  lines.  These 
calumets  were  taken  from  mounds  and  ploughed  up  in 
the  fields. 

Thus  far  the  writer  has  failed  to  discover  a  single 
instance  of  the  use,  among  the  Georgia  Indians,  in  an- 
cient times,  of  the  genuine  red  pipe  stone  or  OatUnite. 
In  the  case  of  the  softer  stones  there  are  indications 
that  the  bowls  and  holes  for  the  stem  were  made  by 
boring  with  a  triangular-shaped  implement,  probably 
of  flint.  Upon  some  of  the  inner  surfaces  of  these 
openings  are  annular  abrasions,  gradually  decreasing 
in  diameter  as  the  end  of  the  aperture  is  neared.  Cat- 
lin '  tells  us  that  the  Indians  of  the  West  shaped  the 
bowls  of  their  pipes  from  a  solid  stone,  not  quite  as 
hard  as  marble,  with  nothing  but  a  knife.  "  The 
stone,"  he  continues,  "  which  is  of  a  cherry  red,  admits 
of  a  beautiful  polish,  and  the  Indian  makes  the  hole  in 
the  bowl  of  the  pipe  by  drilling  into  it  a  hard  stick, 
shaped  to  the  desired  size,  with  a  quantity  of  sharp 

1  "Illustrations  of  the  Manners,  Customs,  and  Condition  of  the  North  Ameri- 
can Indians,"  vol.  i.,  seventh  edition,  p.  234.     London,  1848. 


408  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

sand  and  water  kept  constantly  in  the  hole,  subjecting 
him,  therefore,  to  a  very  great  labour  and  the  necessity 
of  much  patience." 

In  his  account  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  some 
of  the  Western  Indians,  Mr.  Hunter  *  writes :  "  The 
men  occasionally  amuse  themselves  with  making  bowls 
and  pipes  of  clay,  for  their  individual  use,  which  are 
burned  as  before  described.  They  also  make  bowls 
and  pipes  of  a  kind  of  indurated  bole,  and  of  compact 
sand  and  limestone  which  are  excavated  and  reduced 
to  form  by  means  of  friction  with  harder  su'bstances  and 
the  intervention  of  sand  and  water.  They  generally 
ornament  them  with  some  figure  characteristic  of  the 
owner's  name ;  as,  for  instance,  with  that  of  a  buffalo, 
elk,  bear,  tortoise,  serpent,  etc.,  according  to  the  circum- 
stance or  caprice  that  has  given  rise  to  its  assumption. 
In  the  same  way  they  manufacture  their  large  stone 
mortars  for  reducing  corn  into  fine  meal."  In  the  ab- 
sence of  all  metallic  implements,  it  is  probable  that 
the  Southern  Indians  gave  outward  shape  to  their 
harder  pipes  mainly  by  means  of  attrition.  Sharp  sand 
and  water  may  have  materially  assisted  them  in  drilling 
the  holes.  The  drill,  in  all  likelihood,  consisted  either 
of  a  piece  of  hard  wood  or  of  cane.  As  the  cavity 
of  the  bowl  narrowed,  smaller  drills  were  employed 
until  the  bottom  was  reached.  Professor  Rau,  in  his 
excellent  article  upon  drilling  in  stone  without  metal, 
advances  the  opinion  that  a  piece  of  cane  will  form  "  a 
regular  hollow  cylinder  sufficiently  strong  to  serve  as 
a  drill." 2     In  this  belief  I  fully  concur,  and  am  firmly 


1  "  Memoirs  of  a  Captivity  among  the  Indians  of  North  America, "  p.  290. 
London,  1823. 

*  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Regents  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  for 
1868,  p.  399. 


USE    0?    SOLID    AXD    HOLLOW    DRILLS.  409 

persuaded  that  the  hard  cane  (Arundina/ria  macros- 
perma,  Michaux),  furnished  the  Southern  Indians,  and 
that  abundantly,  with  hollow  drills,  which,  with  the 
aid  of  sharp  sand  and  water,  and  a  liberal  expenditure 
of  time  and  labor,  would  have  compassed  the  |3erf ora- 
tions and  hollows  we  observe  in  these  pipes.  Dr. 
Davis  informed  Professor  Rau  that  a  stone  pipe,  with 
an  unfinished  hollow  partly  filled  with  vegetable  mat- 
ter, was  sent  from  Mississippi  to  the  late  Dr.  Samuel 
G.  Morton,  of  Philadelphia.  When  subjected  to  a  mi- 
croscopical examination,  this  vegetable  substance  ex- 
hibited the  fibrous  structure  of  cane,  and  thus  appeared 
to  be  the  remnant  of  a  drill  broken  off  in  the  bore.1 
Some  of  the  bowls  of  the  soapstone  pipes  were  evi- 
dently hollowed  or  dug  out  with  the  aid  of  a  sharp- 
pointed  flint  implement.  Instances  occur  where  the 
workman,  neglecting  to  smooth  or  polish  the  inner 
surface,  has  left  the,marks  of  his  rude  incisive  instru- 
ment. In  many  of  these  pipes  the  apertures  for  the 
steins  appear  unnecessarily  large ;  and  yet,  the  size  of 
these  openings,  in  connection  with  their  flat  bottoms, 
furnishes  an  argument  in  support  of  the  principal  use 
to  which  we  suppose  them  to  have  been  dedicated. 
In  the  deliberations  of  the  council-lodge,  or  upon  pub- 
lic occasions,  it  was  important  that  the  decorated  stems 
should  be  long  enough  to  be  conveniently  passed  from 
one  to  the  other,  as  the  chief  men  sat  around,  without 
lifting  the  pipe  from  the  ground  upon  which  it  rested. 
To  accomplish  this  object,  and  also  to  afford  ample  op- 
portunity for.  that  labored  ornamentation  which  was 
the  pride  and  boast  of  the  red-men,  the  stem  must 
have  been  large  and  long.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
the  office  of  pipe-stem-carrier  was,  among  many  of  the 

1  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Regents  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  for 
1868,  p.  399. 


410  ANTIQUITIES    OF    THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

tribes,  invested  with  no  little  dignity.  Swamp-canes 
furnished  ample  and  convenient  material,  among  the 
Southern  Indians,  for  the  facile  manufacture  of  stems 
of  any  desired  size  or  length.  Joints  of  gradually- 
diminishing  diameters  could  be  readily  adjusted  the 
one  into  the  other.  All  necessity  for  perforation  was 
avoided,  and  thus  a  tapering  stem,  light  and  strong, 
could  be  easily  constructed  whose  larger  end  would 
fit  the  aperture  in  the  pipe,  while  its  smaller  extrem- 
ity would  admirably  answer  the  convenience  of  the 
smoker. 

The  third  class  includes  the  ordinary  pipes  in 
common  use  among  the  natives  for  smoking  tobacco 
and  other  leaves,  weeds,  and  barks,  whose  narcotic 
properties  were  well  known  to  them  in  their  primitive 
state.  The  luxury  of  smoking  from  the  earliest  times 
was  recognized  by  nearly  all  the  American  tribes. 
"  There  is  no  custom,"  says  Catlin,1  "  more  uniformly 
in  constant  use  amongst  the  poor  Indians  than  that  of 
smoking,  nor  any  other  more  highly  valued.  His  pipe 
is  his  constant  companion  through  life — his  messenger 
of  peace ;  he  pledges  his  friends  through  its  stem  and 
its  bowl,  and  when  its  care-drowning  fumes  cease  to 
flow,  it  takes  a  place  with  him  in  his  solitary  grave, 
with  his  tomahawk  and  war-club,  companions  to  his 
long-fancied,  '  mild,  and  beautiful  hunting-grounds.'  " 

These  common  pipes  were  made  both  of  stone  and 
clay,  generally  of  the  latter  material.  They  are  usually 
of  a  size  capable  of  being  easily  transported,  and  are 
not  much  heavier  than  the  ordinary  pipe  of  the  present 
day.  Some  are  no  bigger  in  the  bowl  than  a  thimble. 
Of  the  stone  pipes,  Figs.  2  and  G,  Plate  XXIV.,  may  be 

1  "  Illustrations  of  the  Manners,  Customs,  and  Condition  of  the  North  Ameri- 
can Indians,"  etc.,  vol.  i.,  seventh  edition,  p.  235.     London,  1848. 


putejxrs. 


AM  PHOTO  LITHOGRAPHIC  CO  N  Yl  OSBORHES  PROCESS  I 


COMMON   PIPES    OF    STONE    AND    CLAY.  411 

regarded  as  fine  specimens,  perhaps  rather  more  deli- 
cate than  those  in  common  nse.  The  pipe  represent- 
ed by  Fig.  2  was  found  near  the  large  mound  on  the 
plantation  of  Mr.  J.  H.  Nichols,  in  Nacoochee  Valley. 
Made  of  a  hard  black  stone,  it  has  been  formed  with 
much  regularity  and  delicacy.  The  walls  of  the  bowl 
are  very  thin,  scarcely  thicker  than  the  sides  of  a  sad. 
dler's  thimble. 

The  composition  of  the  clay  pipes  is  precisely  the 
same  as  that  used  by  the  Indians  of  this  region  in  the 
manufacture  of  their  pottery,  red  and  blue  clay  mixed 
with  powdered  shells  or  fine  gravel. 

Figs.  4  and  7,  Plate  XXIV.,  represent  two  pipes 
of  this  description  taken  from  earth-mounds  on  the 
Ocmulgee  River,  not  far  from  Macon;  while  those 
delineated  in  Figs.  3  and  5,  Plate  XXIV.,  were  found  in 
shell-mounds  on  the  Colonel's  Island.  Fragments  of 
pipes  of  this  composition  are  not  infrequent,  and  attest 
their  general  use  among  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  this 
region.  Perfect  specimens  are  rarely  to  be  obtained. 
The  custom  of  burning  the  dead  was,  at  some  time 
or  other,  maintained  to  a  considerable  extent  on  the 
Southern  Atlantic  coast.  As  a  direct  consequence,  in 
all  tumuli  where  cremation  occurred,  only  fragments  of 
pipes  may  now  be  found.  From  one  small  mound  of 
this  character  the  writer  obtained  parts  of  five  clay 
pipes  which  had  been  broken  in  the  funeral-fires. 
Hearne  describes  a  custom  among  the  Chippewas,  after 
the  shedding  of  blood,  of  throwing  all  their  ornaments 
and  pipes  into  a  common  fire ;  and  Winslow  narrates 
of  the  Nanohiggansets  that  they  had  a  house,  ordinarily 
frequented  by  priests,  whither  at  certain  times  resorted 
all  the  people  and  offered  their  riches  to  their  gods. 
These  contributions  were  cast  by  the  priests  into  a 


412  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

great  fire  made  in  the  middle  of  that  house.1  Upon 
the  sacrificial  altars  of  the  mounds  of  the  West,  Messrs. 
Squier  and  Davis  found  many  beautiful  pipes  cracked 
and  broken  by  fire.  It  may  be  that  these  fragmentary 
clay-pipes  from  the  Georgia  mounds,  if  rightly  under- 
stood, testify  the  sincere  affection  cherished  by  the 
living  for  the  dead  when,  having  concluded  the  last 
funeral  rites,  they  committed  to  the  same  fires  which 
consumed  the  bones  of  the  departed,  these  symbols  of 
peace,  of  comfort,  and  of  friendship. 

Figure  1,  Plate  XXIV.,  is  a  correct  delineation  of 
a  clay  pipe  found  in  a  grave-mound  in  Tennessee. 

The  modern  Cherokees  excelled  in  the  manufacture 
of  bird  and  animal-shaped  pipes — many  of  them  large 
and  elaborate.  The  nude  human  figure  in  kneeling, 
X  bending  or  sitting  posture,  frequently  formed  the  sub- 
ject of  imitation ;  and  we  have  seen  several  pipes  of 
this  description  which,  in  the  language  of  Adair,  could 
not  "  much  be  commended  for  their  modesty." 

1  See  Wilson's  "  Prehistoric  Man,"  second  edition,  p.  323.     London,  1865. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Idol- Worship  among  the  Southern  Indians. — Stone  and  Terra-Cotta  Images. 

The  history  of  idol-worship — from  its  most  de- 
graded expression  in  the  Fetichism  of  Congo,  through 
all  its  modified  forms  up  to  its  most  elaborate  develop- 
ment in  the  states  of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome — is 
both  curious  and  interesting.  The  stocks  and  stones 
and  the  senseless  images  of  the  unlearned  and  the  base 
have  perished,  and  are  passing  into  oblivion  wherever 
the  shadows  of  superstition,  beneath  which  they  had 
their  being,  are  dispelled  by  the  light  of  a  superior 
civilization.  Even  the  bulls  and  beetles  of  enigmatic 
Egypt — overrun  with  gods — incurred  the  sneers  of 
Juvenal.  Although  not  a  single  worshipper  be  found 
among  living  men,  the  divinities  of  Olympus,  the  Muses, 
the  Graces,  the  Lares  and  Penates,  the  Fates,  the  Fu- 
ries, and  the  Satyrs  of  the  classic  age,  and  the  sublime 
art  which  enthroned  them  on  earthly  pedestals,  still 
live  in  the  domains  of  literature  and  taste.  They  are 
as  immortal  as  the  poetry,  the  imagination,  and  the 
traditions,  whose  offspring  they  were.  Beautifully 
has  Coleridge  testified  to  the  permanency  of  this  art- 
idolatry,  and  to  the  influence  which  its  memories  still 
exert  over  the  minds  of  succeeding  generations  : 


414  AXTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHER]*   INDIANS. 

"  The  intelligible  forms  of  ancient  poets, 
The  fair  humanities  of  old  religion, 
The  Power,  the  Beauty,  and  the  Majesty 
That  had  their  haunts  in  dale  or  piny  mountain, 
Or  forest,  by  slow  stream,  or  pebbly  spring, 
Or  chasms  and  watery  depths;  all  these  have  vanished*; 
They  live  no  longer  in  the  faith  of  reason ; 
But  still  the  heart  doth  need  a  language  ;  still 
Doth  the  old  instinct  bring  back  the  old  names  ; 
Spirits  or  gods  that  used  to  share  this  earth 
With  man  as  with  their  friend  ;  and  at  this  day 
'Tis  Jupiter  who  brings  whate'er  is  great, 
And  Venus  who  brings  every  thing  that's  fair." 

But  it  is  not  permitted  us  now  to  linger  among 
these  deifications  of  the  unseen  powers  of  Nature — 
these  wonderful  embodiments  of  the  ideal  and  the 
beautiful.  To  humbler  and  more  obscure  investio;a- 
tions  do  our  present  inquiries  lead. 

Mr.  Tylor '  is  of  the  opinion  that  idols  belong  to  a 
period  of  transition  and  of  growth.  In  support  of  this 
idea,  he  instances  the  fact  that  among  races  lowest  in 
the  scale  of  civilization — such  as  the  Fuegians  and 
many  of  the  Indian  tribes  of  North  America — we  see 
and  hear  little  or  nothing  of  idols,  while  in  Mexico  and 
Peru  the  entire  apparatus  of  temples,  idols,  priests,  and 
sacrifices,  obtains  in  a  complex  and  elaborate  form.  A 
belief  in  the  existence  of  a  Suj)renie  Being  is  wellnigh 
universal  among  men,  and  the  absence  of  all  religious 
superstitions  and  of  a  conception  of  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,  is  the  emphatic  sign  of  the  most  absolute 
degradation.  The  presence  of  idols  among  barbarians 
may  be  therefore  regarded  as  denoting  not  only  the 
entity  of  a  religious  idea,  but  also  the  cooperation  of 

1  "  Researches  into  the  Early  History  of  Mankind,"  etc.,  second  edition,  p. 
112.     London,  1870. 


IDOL-WORSHIP.  415 

something  like  art  and  imagination  to  impart  definite 
shape  and  personality  to  vague  conceptions  of  superior 
"beings. 

Sympathizing  with  the  views  of  Mr.  Tylor,  Sir 
John  Lubbock '  writes :  "  The  worship  of  idols  charac- 
terizes a  somewhat  higher  stage  of  human  develop- 
ment.    We  find  no  traces  of  it  amoiw  the  lowest  races 

o 

of  men ;  and  Lafitau  says  truly :  '  On  peut  dire  en 
general  que  le  grand  nombre  des  peuples  sauvages  na 
point  d'idoles.'  The  error  of  regarding  Idolatry  as  the 
general  religion  of  low  races,  has  no  doubt  mainly 
arisen  from  confusing  the  Idol  and  the  Fetich.  Fetich- 
ism,  however,  is  an  attack  on  the  Deity  ;  Idolatry  is  an 
act  of  submission  to  him ;  rude,  no  doubt,  but  yet 
humble.  Hence,  Fetichism  and  Idolatry  are  not  only 
different,  but  opposite,  so  that  the  one  could  not  be 
developed  directly  out  of  the  other.  We  must,  there- 
fore, expect  to  find  between  them,  as  indeed  we  do,  a 
stage  of  religion  without  either  the  one  or  the  other." 
However  true  it  may  be  that  idol- worship  indicates 
a  development  of  the  religious  idea  as  contrasted  with 
its  non-existence  among  peoples  who  give  evidence 
either  of  no  religious  emotions  whatever,  or  of  super- 
stitions so  degraded  that  they  do  not  rise  above  Fetich- 
ism, certain  it  is  that  a  devotion  which,  ignoring  the 
intervention  of  idols,  recognizes  the  existence  of  a 
Supreme  Being,  a  Great  Spirit,  or  of  two  controlling 
divinities — the  one  of  good  and  the  other  of  evil — is 
still  more  elevated  and  expansive  in  its  character.  So 
also  is  that  system  of  worship  which  deifies  the  sun 
and  moon,  and  cherishes  fire  as  an  object  of  adoration 
because  of  its  supposed  direct  emanation  from  a  divine 

1  "  The  Origin  of  Civilization  and  the  Primitive  Condition  of  Han,"  p.  225. 
London,  1810. 


416  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

source.  The  religion  of  the  Southern  Indians  was,  in 
some  respects,  not  unlike  that  attributed  by  Tacitus  to 
the  ancient  Germans  :  "  Caeteruui  nee  cohibere  parietr 
bus  deos  neque  in  ullam  humani  oris  speciem  assimulare, 
ex  magnitudine  caelestiuni  arbitrantur.  Lucos  ac  ne- 
mora  consecrant,  deorumque  nominibus  appellant  secre- 
tum  illud  quod  sola  reverentia  vident."  * 

Both  the  sun  and  moon  were,  among  many  tribes, 
regarded  with  absolute  veneration ;  and  certain  seasons 
were  set  apart  for  special  religious  observances.  Speak- 
ing generally,  it  may  be  stated  that  they  recognized 
one  great  and  good  Spirit  as  the  creator  of  all — the 
author  of  life,  and  light,  and  heat — the  dispenser  of 
rain,  the  provider  of  game,  and  the  source  of  all  devel- 
opment in  plant  and  animal.  Him  they  sought  to  pro- 
pitiate on  all  important  occasions,  whether  of  war,  the 
chase,  or  of  husbandry.  Subordinate  to  this  great 
first  cause,  they  reckoned  other  spirits,  good  and  evil, 
and  with  them  their  "priests,  conjurers,  and  medicine- 
men were  commissioned  to  treat.  With  the  malign 
influences  of  the  evil  one — whether  exerted  in  the  form 
of  disease,  or  faint-hearted ness,  or  blight  upon  the  zea 
— they  were  ever  contending.  Extravagant  as  were 
their  traditions  and  superstitions  with  regard  to  their 
national  or  tribal  origins,  there  was  always  incorporated 
some  memory  which  perpetuated  the  primal  presence 
and  power  of  this  Great  Spirit.  His  intervention  was 
admitted  in  the  first  strong  wind,  great  fire,  or  dense 
smoke,  or  in  the  opening  of  some  vast  cave  from  which 
his  children  issued  forth  to  possess  the  green  earth  he 
had  made.  Despite  their  curious  and  degraded  re- 
ligious notions,  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  many 

1  C.  Cornelii  Taciti   Opera  omnia,  ad  fidem  eJitionis  OrellianaB,"  torn,  ii.,  p. 
235.     Oxonii,  1851. 


GEOEGTA   TRIBES    NOT    IDOL- WORSHIPPERS.  41 7 

of  the  tribes,  realizing  the  presence  of  a  soul  or  spirit 
in  the  breast  of  man,  and  appreciating  the  operation 
of  natural  laws,  attained  unto  a  conception  not  only 
of  the  immortality  of  that  spirit,  but  also  of  the  fact 
that  in  a  future  state  good  or  evil  fortune  would  betide 
the  translated  according  to  his  conduct  in  this  world. 

That  the  Georgia  tribes  were  not  idol-worshippers 
— in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of  that  term — and  did 
not  fashion  or  reverence  images  at  the  period  of  our 
earliest  acquaintance  with  them,  may  be  confidently 
affirmed. 

Speaking  of  the  Indians  who  resided  in  the  vicinity 
of  Savannah  when  General  Oglethorpe  established 
the  colony  of  Georgia  beneath  the  pines  which  then 
crowned  Yamacraw  Bluff,  the  Reverend  Mr.  Bolzius ' 
states :  "  They  have  some  Religion,  believing  a  Su- 
preme Being,  which  they  call  Sotolycate  (literally 
translated,  He  ivlw  sitteth  Above),  who  is  in  all  Places  ; 
though  they  would  not  teach  us  the  Word  by  which 
they  express  the  Name  of  God  in  their  Language. 
They  believe  that  from  the  Supreme  Being  comes 
every  Thing,  especially  Wisdom.  They  use  no  Cere- 
monies, nor  outward  religious  Exercises,  except  at  a 
Solemn  Festival,  held  once  a  Year.  They  worship  no 
Idols ;  however  they  sing  some  songs  about  the  ancient 
Heroes." 

Equally  emphatic  is  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Bartram:* 
"These  Indians  are  by  no  means  idolaters,  unless  their 
puffing  the  tobacco  smoke  towards  the  sun,  and  rejoic- 
ing at  the  appearance  of  the  new  moon,  may  be  so 


1  An  Extract  of  the  Journals  of  Mr.  Commissary  Von  Reck  and  of  the  Rev- 
erend Mr.  Bolzius,  p.  36.     London,  1734. 

2 "  Travels  through  Xorth  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  East  and  West  Florida,'' 
etc.,  pp.  495,  49G.     London,  1792. 

27 


418  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

termed.  So  far  from  idolatry  are  they,  that  they  have 
no  images  amongst  them,  nor  any  religious  rite  or  cere- 
mony that  I  could  perceive ;  but  adore  the  Great  Spirit, 
the  giver  and  taker  away  of  the  breath  of  life,  with 
the  most  profound  and  respectful  homage.  They  be- 
lieve in  a  future  state  where  the  spirit  exists,  which 
they  call  the  world  of  spirits,  where  they  enjoy  differ- 
ent degrees  of  tranquillity  or  comfort,  agreeably  to 
their  life  spent  here ;  a  person  who  in  his  life  has  been 
an  industrious  hunter,  provided  well  for  his  family,  an 
intrepid  and  active  warrior,  just,  upright,  and  who  has 
done  all  the  good  he  could,  will,  they  say,  in  the  world 
of  spirits,  live  in  a  warm,  pleasant  country,  where  are 
ex23ansive,  green,  flowery  savannas  and  high  forests, 
watered  with  rivers  of  pure  waters,  replenished  with 
deer  and  every  species  of  game;  a  serene,  unclouded, 
and  peaceful  sky ;  in  short,  where  there  is  fullness  of 
pleasure,  uninterrupted." 

Mr.  Adair *  is  no  less  positive  in  his  recorded  obser- 
vations on  this  point :  "  But  these  Indian  Americans 
pay  their  religious  devoir  to  Loak-Ishto  Jwollo-Aba, 
'  the  great,  beneficent,  supreme,  holy  spirit  of  fire,'  who 
resides  (as  they  think)  above  the  clouds,  and  on  earth 
)C  also,  with  unpolluted  people.  He  is  with  them  the 
sole  author  of  warmth,  light,  and  of  all  animal  and 
vegetable  life.  They  do  not  pay  the  least  perceivable 
adoration  to  any  images,  or  to  dead  persons ;  neither 
to  the  celestial  luminaries,  nor  evil  spirits,  nor  any 
created  being  whatsoever.  They  are  utter  strangers 
to  all  the  gestures  practised  by  the  pagans  in  their  re- 
ligious rites.  They  kiss  no  idols ;  nor,  if  they  were 
placed  out  of  their  reach,  would  they  kiss  their  hands 
in  token  of  reverence  and  a  willing  obedience.  .  .  . 

1  "  History  of  the  American  Indians,"  etc.,  pp.  19,  22.     London,  1775. 


IMAGES.  419 

Tliey  pay  no  religions  worship  to  stocks  or  stones 
after  the  manner  of  the  old  Eastern  pagans ;  neither 
do  they  worship  any  kind  of  images  whatsoever.  .  .  . 
"  I  never  heard  that  any  of  our  North  American  In- 
dians had  images  of  any  kind.  There  is  a  carved 
human  statue  of  wood,  to  which,  however,  they  pay 
no  religious  homage.  It  "belongs  to  the  head  war-town 
of  the  Upper  Mnskohge  country,  and  seems  to  have 
been  originally  designed  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of 
some  distinguished  hero  who  deserved  well  of  his 
country;  for,  when  their  cussema,  or  bitter  black 
drink,  is  about  to  be  drank  in 'the  synedrion,  they  fre- 
quently, on  common  occasions,  will  bring  it  there,  and 
lionour  it  with  the  first  conch-shell-full,  by  the  hand  of 
the  chief  religious  attendant :  and  then  they  return  it 
to  its  former  place.  It  is  observable  that"  the  same 
beloved  waiter,  or  holy  attendant,  and  his  coadjutant, 
equally  observe  the  same  ceremony  to  any  person  of 
reputed  merit  in  that  quadrangular  place.  When  I 
past  that  way,  circumstances  did  not  allow  me  to 
view  this  singular  figure  ;  but  I  am  assured  by  several 
of  the  traders,  who  have  frequently  seen  it,  that  the 
carving  is  modest,  and  very  neatly  finished,  not  un- 
worthy of  a  modern  civilized  artist."  The  same  author 
assures  us  that  he  has  never  seen  the  worship  of  the 
Priapus  indulged  in  by  the  natives  with  whom  he  was 
acquainted. 

Referring  to  the  Cherokees,  Lieutenant  Timber- 
V  lake  *  says :  "  As  to  religion,  every  one  is  at  liberty  to 
think  for  himself ;  whence  flows  a  diversity  of  opinions 
amongst  those  that  do  think,  but  the  major  part  do 
not  give  themselves  that  trouble.  They  generally 
concur,  however,  in  the  belief  of  one  superior  Being 

1  "  Memoirs,''  etc.,  pp.  63-G5.     London,  1*765. 


420  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

who  made  them  and  governs  all  things,  and  are  there- 
fore never  discontent  at  any  misfortune,  because  they 
say  the  Man  above  would  have  it  so.  They  believe  in 
a  reward  and  punishment,  as  may  be  evinced  by  their 
answer  to  Mr.  Martin,  who,  having  preached  Scripture 
till  both  his  audience  and  he  were  heartily  tired,  was 
told  at  last,  that  they  knew  very  well  that  if  they 
were  good  they  should  go  up  ;  if  bad,  down  ;  that 
he  could  tell  no  more  ;  that  he  had  long  plagued 
them  with  what  they  no  ways  understood,  and  that 
they  desired  him  to  depart  the  country.  .  .  .  They 
have  few  religious  ceremonies  or  stated  times  of  gen- 
eral worship:  the  green-corn  dance  seems  to  be  the 
principal,  which  is,  as  I  have  been  told,  performed  in  a 
very  solemn  manner  in  a  large  square  before  the  town- 
house  door :  the  motion  here  is  very  slow,  and  the  song 
in  which  they  offer  thanks  to  God  for  the  corn  he  has 
sent  them,  far  from  unpleasing." 

When  questioned  as  to  the  origin  of  the  new  lire, 
and  of  the  Boos-ke-tau,  Efau  Haujo,1  the  great  Medal 
Chief  of  Took-au-bat-che,  responded  that  he  had  been 
taught  from  his  infancy  to  believe  that  there  is-  an 
E-sau-ge-tuh  E-mis-see  (Master  of  Breath)  who  gave 
these  customs  to  the  Indians  as  necessary  and  suited 
to  them ;  and  that  an  observance  of  them  entitled  the 
red-men  to  his  care  and  protection  both  in  war  and 
seasons  of  difficulty. 

When  asked  whether  the  Creeks  believed  in  a 
future  existence,  he  replied :  "  The  old  notion  among 
us  is  that  when  we  die  the  spirit  (po-yau-fic-chau)  goes 
the  way  the  sun  goes,  to  the  west,  and  there  joins  its 
family  and  friends  who  went  before  it."     To  the  in- 

1  Hawkins'    "Sketch  of  the  Creek  Country."      Collections  of  the  Georgia 
Historical  Society,  vol.  Hi.,  part  1,  p.  80. 


NOTIONS    REGARDING    A    SUPREME    BEING.  421 

quiry,  "  Do  tlie  red  people  believe  in  a  future  state  of 
rewards  and  punishments  ?  "  lie  answered  :  "  We  have 
an  opinion  that  those  who  behaved  well,  are  taken 
under  the  care  of  E-sau-ge-tuh  E-mis-see  and  assisted  ; 
and  that  those  who  have  behaved  ill,  are  left  there  to 
shift  for  themselves  ;  and  that  there  is  no  other  punish- 
ment."" 

During  a  conversation  which  occurred  between 
Tomo-chi-chi  and  General  Oglethorpe  about  prayer, 
the  aged  Mico  of  the  Yamacraws  said  that  the  Indians 
never  prayed  to  God  but  left  it  to  Him  to  do  what  He 
thought  best  for  them  :  "  That  the  asking  for  any  par- 
ticular blessing  looked  to  him  like  directing  God  ;  and 
if  so,  that  it  must  be  a  very  wicked  thing.  That  for 
his  part  he  thought  everything  that  happened  in  the 
world  was  as  it  should  be;  that  God  of  Himself  would 
do  for  every  one  what  was  consistent  with  the  good  of 
the  whole ;  and  that  our  duty  to  Him  was  to  be  con- 
tent with  whatever  happened  in  general,  and  thankful 
for  all  the  good  that  happened  in  particular."  ' 

In  his  "  Philosophico-historico-hydrogeography  of 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  East  Florida,"  De  Brahm 2 
says  that  the  Indians  of  this  region  entertained  a  no- 
tion of  immortality  and  of  a  future  state  wherein  they 
expected  to  enjoy  large  hunting-grounds  well  stocked 
with  deer,  and  also  an  apprehension  of  spirits.  "  The 
Indians  have  also  a  very  scant  knowledge  of  a  Divine 
Being,  which  knowledge,  or  rather  notion,  extends  no 
farther  than  that  they  believe  he  is  good :  the  Chera- 
kees  call  him  (Hianequo),  the  great  man,  whom  the 


~  ]  Spence's  "Anecdotes,"  p.  318.     London,  1820.    Jones'  "  Historical  Sketch 
of  Tomo-chi-chi,"  p.  105.     Albany,  1868. 

a  "  Documents  connected  with  the  History  of  South  Carolina,  edited  by  Plowden 
Charles,  Jennett  Weston,  and  printed  for  private  distribution  only,"  pp.  221,  222. 
London,  1856. 


422  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEEjST    INDIANS. 

Catabaws  call  (Rivet),  overseer;  but  they  pay  no  man- 
ner of  adoration  to  hum,  nor  anything  existing ;  nor 
have  they  any  ceremony  at  all  than  to  extinguish  all 
their  fires  once  a  year  in  July,  at  the  time  when  the 
Indian  corn  (maize)  is  in  its  milk,  which  they  squeeze 
out  by  beating  and  straining ;  than  boile  that  milk  by 
a  fire  new  caught  from  electrifation,  which  they  per- 
form with  two  green  sticks  rubd  with  great  velocity  a 
cross  each  other  until  they  are  lighted ;  when  this  milk 
is  boiled  to  a  consistency,  they  let  it  cool,  than  form  it 
into  little  cakes  which  they  fry  in  bear's  fat,  and  are 
(whilst  warm)  a  delicious  eating ;  with  them  they 
keep  feasting  three  days.  To  this  season  they  postpone 
all  elections,  promotions,  and  their  king's  coronations." 

"  Their  Religion,"  upon  the  authority  of  Mr.  Ash,1 
"  chiefly  consists  in  the  Adoration  of  the  Sun  and 
Moon  :  At  the  Appearance  of  the  New  Moon  I  have 
observed  them  with  open  extended  Arms,  then  folded, 
with  inclined  Bodies,  to  make  their  Adorations  with 
much  Ardency  and  Passion." 

If  we  may  credit  the  narrative  of  Jonathan  Dicken- 
son,2 a  sort  of  Sabianism  existed  among  some  of  the 
Florida  tribes,  and  Pitchlynn  once  remarked :  "  From 
all  I  have  seen  and  can  understand  of  the  Indians  who 
once  inhabited  the  portions  of  country  covered  by  the 
Southern  States  of  the  Union,  they  appear  to  have 
been  originally  worshippers  of  the  sun.  The  Chahta 
when  he  has  greatly  misbehaved,  utters  these  ejacula- 
tions :  When  the  sun  forsakes  a  man  he  will  do  things 
he  never  thought  to  do !  The  sun  is  turned  against 
me,  therefore  have  I  come  to  this."  3     The  Fidalgo  of 

1  "  Carolina,"  etc.,  by  T.  A.,  Gent.,  p.  36.     London,  16S2. 

2  "  God's  Protecting  Providence,"  etc.,  third  edition,  p.  13,  et  aliier.     Phila- 
delphia, 1720. 

3  "  Relation  of  Alvar  Nuiiez  Cabeca  de  Vaca,"  translated  by   Buckingham 
Smith,  p.  171,  note  3.     New  York,  1811. 


WOODEN    STATUES.  423 

Elvas  asserts  that  the  Indians  of  Florida  worshipped 
the  devil,  and  made  sacrifices  of  the  blood  and  bodies 
of  their  people  whenever  his  satanic  majesty  suggested 
that  he  was  athirst.  It  was  to  escape  such  oblation 
that  Juan  Ortiz,  warned  by  the  Indian  girl,  fled  by 
night  to  Mococo.1  Cabeca  de  Vaca  mentions  "  gourds 
bored  with  holes  and  having  pebbles  in  them,'1  which 
were  used  by  the  Indians  in  their  dances,  and  were 
supposed  to  j)ossess  special  virtue  because  they  were 
heaven-descended." 3  Elsewhere  in  the  Spanish  narra- 
tives do  we  read  of  wooden  images  of  birds ;  but,  so 
far  as  we  now  remember,  no  account  is  given  of  a  sin- 
gle idol  as  an  object  of  adoration  among  the  aborigines. 
At  Talomeco,  De  Soto  found  a  large  temple  or  mauso- 
leum, at  whose  entrance  were  gigantic  statues  of  wood, 
carved  with  considerable  skill,  the  largest  of  which 
was  twelve  feet  high.  They  were  armed  with  various 
weapons,  and  "  stood  in  threatening  attitudes,  with  fero- 
cious looks."  The  interior  of  the  temple  was  decorated 
with  statues  of  various  shapes  and  sizes.  There  was 
also  a  great  profusion  of  conchs  and  different  kinds 
of  sea  and  river  shells.  It  does  not  appear,  however, 
that  these  images  were  objects  of  religious  veneration 
or  positive  worship.  Like  the  "  carved  human  statue 
of  wood  "  in  the  head  war-town  of  the  upper  Muskohge 
country,  described  by  Adair,  they  seem  rather  to  have 
been  the  effigies  of  heroes,  the  embodiments  of  brave 
memories,  the  symbols  of  tribal  pomp  and  power. 

Lawson  tells  us  that  at  the  corn-dances  among  the 
Carolina  Indians — the  one  when  the  harvest  is  ended, 
to  return  thanks  to  the  good  spirit  for  the  fruits  of  the 

1  "  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto,"  etc.,  translated  by  Buck- 
ingham Smith,  p.  31.     New  York,  1866. 

5  "-Relation  of  Alvar  Nunez  Cabeca  de  Vaca,"  translated  by  Buckingham 
Smith,  p.  142.     New  York,  1871. 


421  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

earth — the  other  in  the  spring  to  invoke  blessings  upon 
the  seed  to  be  sown — the  old  men,  in  order  to  encour- 
age the  young  men  to  labor  stoutly  in  planting  their 
maize,  set  up  a  sort  of  idol  in  the  field,  attired  in  the 
customary  habit  of  an  Indian,  with  strings  of  wampum 
about  its  neck.  This  image — guarded  by  the  king  and 
old  men,  who  pay  profound  resj)ect  to  it — the  young 
ones  are  not  permitted  to  approach.  By  the  old  men 
the  young  men  are  told  that  this  image  "  is  some 
famous  Indian  warrior  that  died  a  great  while  ago, 
and  now  is  come  amongst  them  to  see  if  they  will 
work  well,  which,  if  they  do,  he  will  go  to  the  good 
spirit  and  speak  to  him  to  send  them  plenty  of  corn," 
and  make  them  "  expert  hunters  and  mighty  war- 
riors." x  Commenting  upon  the  absurdities  of  their 
superstitions,  our  author  asserts  it  to  be  impossible  to 
give  a  true  description  of  their  religion :  "P  have 
known  them,"  says  he,  "  amongst  their  idols  and  dead 
kings  in  their  Quiogozon  for  several  days,  where  I 
could  never  get  admittance  to  see  what  they  were  do- 
ing, though  I  was  at  great  friendship  with  the  king 
and  great  men:  but  all  my  persuasions  availed  me 
nothing,  neither  were  any,  but  the  king,  with  the  con- 
jurer, and  some  few  old  men,  in  that  house ;  'as  for  the 
young  men  and  chiefest  numbers  of  the  Indians,  they 
were  kept  as  ignorant  of  what  the  elders  were  doing, 
as  myself.  They  all  believe  ....  that  there  are  two 
sjurits ;  the  one  good,  the  other  bad.  The  good  one 
they  reckon  to  be  the  author  and  maker  of  every 
thing,  and  say  that  it  is  he  that  gives  them  the  fruits 
of  the  earth,  and  has  taught  them  to  hunt,  fish,  and  be 
wise  enough  to  overpower  the  beasts  of  the  wilderness, 

1  "History  of  Carolina,"  pp.  285,  286.     Reprint.     Raleigh,  1860. 

2  Idem,  p.  342. 


ANCIENT   GODS    OF   THE   VIRGINIA    INDIANS.         425 

and  all  other  creatures  that  they  may  be  assistant  and 
beneficial  to  man."  They  declare  also  that  the  bad  spirit 
lives  apart  froni  the  good,  and  torments  men  with  sick- 
ness, disappointments,  losses,  hunger,  and  all  the  mis- 
fortunes incident  to  human  life.  In  the  immortality 
of  man  they  believe,  and  have  a  notion  of  certain  re- 
wards and  punishments  in  another  world. 

Beverly1  furnishes  an  account  of  a  surreptitious 
visit  which  he  paid  to  a  Qnioccosan,  or  house  of  reli- 
gious worship,  used  by  the  Virginia  Indians.  In  a 
mat  he  there  found  what  he  took  to  be  a  disjointed 
idol — a  rude  affair,  scarcely  justifying  the  elaborate 
representation  offered  in  the  accompanying  plate.  He 
also  assures  us  that  these  peoples  had  altars  and  places 
of  sacrifice.  To  the  evil  spirit  burnt-offerings  were 
made,  and  it  is  more  than  probable  that  on  some  occa- 
sions young  children  were  immolated. 

Treating  of  the  religious  belief  and  worship  of  the 
Virginia  Indians,  the  author  of  the  "  Admiranda  Nar- 
ratio " 2  says  :  "  Multos  Deos  credunt,  quos  Montoac 
appellant,  diuersorum  tamen  generum  &  ordinum  : 
unum  solum  primarium  &  Magnum  Deum  qui  fuerit 
ab  geterno.  Is  (ipsis  afferentibus)  mundum  conditurus, 
initio  creauit  alios  deos  primarii  ordinis,  ut  essent  tam- 
quam  media  &  instrumenta,  ipsi  subseruientia  cum  ad 
creationem,  turn  ad  gubernationem  :  deinde  Solem, 
Lunani  &  Stellas  tamquam  Semi-Deos  &  instrumenta 
alterius  ordinis  prsecipui.  Dicunt  aquas  priruuni  om- 
nium esse  factas,  ex  quibus  Dii  omnes  creaturas  visi- 
biles  <fc  invisibiles  condiderunt.  .  .  . 

"  Omnes  Deos  humanam  naturam  habere  putant, 

1  "  History  and  Present  State  of  Virginia,"  book  ill.,  chap.  viii.     London,  1705. 
'  "Admiranda  Narratio,  fida  tamen,  de  commodis  et  incolarum  ritibus  Virgi- 
nia," et  cset.,  pp.  26,  27.     Francoforti  ad  Moenum.     Anno  1590. 


426  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

ea  cle  causa  imaginibus  humanse  formse  illos  exprimunt, 
eosque  Kewasowok  appellant,  unicus  Kewas  est  dic- 
tus.  Illis  proprias  aedes  sine  templa  dicant,  quae 
Machicoinuck  nominat,  in  quib,  sint  precationes,  can- 
tus  &  -pev  multos  dies  oblationes  ad  ipsoru  Deos.  In 
quibusdam  teniplis  nos  unicuni  Kewas  obseruauimus, 
in  aliis  binos,  aliquando  tres.  Vulgus  etiam  pro  Diis 
habet. 

"  Animee  immortalitatem  el  credunt,  earn  statim 
atque  a  corpore  soluta  est  transferri  seciiduin  opera 
qua3  fecit,  vel  ad  Deorum  sedes  ad  perpetuani  felicita- 
tem  fruendam,  vel  ad  ingentem  fossani  sen  scrobem 
(qnam  in  extremis  mundi  finibns  procul  ab  ipsis  versus 
occidentera  sitis  esse  censent)  ad  perpetuum  ignem: 
euni  locum  ipsi  Popoghsso  appellant." 

In  plate  xxi.,  De  Bry  presents  us  with  a  sketch 
of  the  idol  Kiwasa  seated  in  its  temple.  The  illus- 
tration is  accompanied  by  the  following  explanatory 
remarks :  "  Idolumhabent  huius  regionis  incolae,  Kiwasa 
appellatum,  e  ligneo  trunco  elaboratuui,  quatuor  pedes 
altum,  cuius  caput  Floridse  incolarum  capita  refer t : 
facies  cameo  colore  depicta  est,  pectus  albo,  reliquum 
corpus  nigro,  crura  etiam  pictura  alba  variegata:  e 
collo  torques  pendent  sphaerulis  albis  constantes,  qui- 
bus  interrnixtae  sunt,  alise  teretes  ex  sere,  magis  ab  illis 
sesthnato,  quam  aurum  vel  argentum.  Est  illud  idolum 
in  templo  oppidi  Secota  repositum  tamquam  custos 
Regiorum  cadauerum.  Bina  interdum  habent  in  tem- 
plis  hujusmodi  idola,  nonnunquam  tria,  non  plura  ; 
quae  cum  obscuro  loco  sint  reposita,  horrenda  ap- 
parent." 

The  following  plate  (xxii.)  introduces  us  to  this 
idol  Kiwasa,  seated  in  a  sepulchre  of  the  kings,  and 
guarding  the  repose  of  the  royal  dead. 


IDOL-WOKSHIP.  427 

The  religion  of  the  Florida  tribes  is  dismissed  with 
the  following  brief  notice  : '  "  Nullam  Dei  habent  noti- 
tiam,  neqne  ullam  religioneni:  quod  illis  conspicuum 
est,  veluti  Sol  &  Luna,  illis  Deus  est.  Saerificos  ha- 
bent, quibus  valde  iidunt :  magni  enini  sunt  magi,  arioli, 
<fc  dasmonum  invocatores.  Funguntur  etiam  ii  sacrifici 
medicorum  &  chirurgorum  munere ;  ejus  rei  causa 
senrper  circumferunt  saccum  herbis  &,  medicamentis 
plenum,  ad  segros  curandos,  qui  plerumque  venerea  lue 
laborant :  nam  feminarum  &  virginum,  quas  solis  filias 
nuncupant,  amoribus  sunt  admodum  clediti." 

In  plate  viii.  of  this  "  Brevis  Narratio,"  we  are  in- 
formed that  the  Indians  venerated  as  an  idol  the  col- 
umn which  Ribault  had  placed  upon  a  mound  to  mark 
the  limit  of  the  French  empire  in  the  New  World. 
To  this  stone  they  offered  the  finest  fruits,  roots,  corn, 
vessels  filled  with  perfumed  oils,  and  bows  and  arrows. 
The  column  itself  was  encircled  from  top  to  bottom 
with  wreaths  of  flowers  and  branches  of  choicest  trees. 

In  plate  xxxv.  we  are  made  acquainted  with  the 
ceremonies  attendant  upon  the  annual  offering  of  a 
stag  to  the  sun. 

Of  all  the  Southern  tribes,  however,  the  Natchez 
were  probably  most  addicted  to  the  worship  of  idols. 
Pere  le  Petit 2  says :  "  The  Natchez  have  a  temple  filled 
with  idols.  These  idols  are  different  figures  of  men 
and  women  for  which  they  have  the  deepest  venera- 
tion." In  another  passage  he  is  more  exjdicit :  "  Their 
idols  are  images  of  men  and  women  made  of  stone  and 
baked  clay,  heads  and  tails  of  extraordinary  serpents, 

1  "  Brevis  Narratio  eorum  qufc  in  Florida,"  etc.,  pp.  3,  4.     Francoforti  ad  Mce- 
iiuni.     Anno  1591. 

2  Letters  Ed.  et  Cur.  iv.,  261,  quoted  by  Dr.  Brinton,  in  the  Historical  Magazine, 
vol.  ix.,  p.  300. 


428  ANTIQUITIES    OF    THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

stuffed  owls,  pieces  of  crystal  and  the  jaw-bones  of 
great  fishes." 

Subsequently,  when  Father  Charlevoix x  visited  this 
temple,  its  glory  had  departed — its  stone  benches  were 
vacant,  its  idols  gone,  its  altar  deserted,  and  but  little 
left  to  denote  the  religious  uses  to  which  it  had  been 
dedicated  save  the  triangular  fire  watched  by  the  soli- 
tary keeper  and  slowly  burning  in  honor  of  the  sun. 
By  an  old  Taenca  Indian  the  Chevalier  Tonti 2  was  in- 
formed that  the  natives  of  that  region  worshipped  the 
sun  and  had  temples,  altars,  and  priests — athat  in 
the  temple  there  was  a  fire  which  burnt  perpetually 
as  the  proper  emblem  of  the  Sun."  To  the  moon,  at 
certain  seasons,  oblations  were  made.  Of  the  temple, 
the  Chevalier  has  left  us  the  following  description : 
"  The  structure  of  it  was  exactly  the  same  with  that 
of  the  Prince's  house.  As  to  the  out-side  it  is  encom- 
passed with  a  great  high  Wall,  the  space  betwixt  that 
and  the  Temple  forming  a  kind  of  Court  where  People 
may  walk.  On  the  top  of  the  Wall  are  several  Pikes 
to  be  seen,  upon  which  are  stuck  the  Heads  of  their  own 
most  notorious  Criminals,  or  of  their  Enemies.  On 
the  top  of  the  Frontispiece  there  is  a  great  Knob  raised, 
all  covered  round  with  Hair,  and  above  that  an  heap 
of  Scalps  in  form  of  a  Trophy. 

"  The  inside  of  the  Temple  is  only  a  JVave,  painted 
on  all  sides,  at  top  with  all  sorts  of  Figures ;  in  the 
midst  of  it  is  an  Hearth  instead  of  an  Altar,  upon 
which  there  is  continually  three  great  Billets  burning, 
standing  up  on  end ;  and  two  Priests  clrest  in  White 
Vestments  are  ever  looking  after  it  to  make  up  the  Fire 

1  "Voyage  to  North  America,"  vol.  ii.,p.  192,  et  seq.     Dublin,  1766. 

2  "Account  of  Monsieur  de  la  Salle's  Last  Expedition,"  etc.,  pp.  91,  94.     Lon- 
don, 1698. 


TEMPLE  OF  THE  NATCHEZ.  429 

and  supply  it.  It  is  round  this  that  all  the  People 
come  to  say  their  Prayers,  with  strange  kind  of  Hum- 
mings.  The  Prayers  are  three  times  a  Day ;  at  Sun- 
rise, at  Noon,  and  at  Sun-set.  They  made  me  take  no- 
tice of  a  sort  of  Closet  cut  out  of  the  Wall,  the  inside 
of  which  was  very  fine ;  I  could  see  only  the  Roof  of 
it,  on  the  top  of  which  there  hung  a  couple  of  spread 
Eagles  which  look'd  towards  the  Sun.  I  wanted  to 
go  into  it ;  but  they  told  me  that  it  was  the  Taber- 
nacle of  their  God,  and  that  it  was  permitted  to  none 
but  their  High  Priest  to  go  into  it.  And  I  was  told 
that  this  was  the  Repository  of  their  Wealth  and  Treas- 
ures ;  as  Pearls,  Gold  and  Silver,  precious  Stones,  and 
some  Goods  that  came  out  of  Europe,  which  they  had 
from  their  neighbours." 

This  sun-worship,  with  its  attendant  religious  cere- 
monies, was  not  confined  to  the  tribes  who  congregated 
along  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  but  existed  also 
among  the  Georgia  and  Florida  Indians.  Tradition 
points  to  a  country  west  of  the  Mississippi  as  the  orig- 
inal habitat  of  at  least  some  of  the  nations  composing 
the  Creek  Confederacy.  We  know  that  some  of  the 
Natchez,  abandoning  their  former  seats,  joined  the 
Creeks,  and  it  is  entirely  probable  that  in  doing  so  they 
brought  with  them  their  peculiar  religious  ceremonies, 
and  perpetuated  their  observance  among  their  new 
neighbors.  Possibly  this  change  of  residence  may  ac- 
count for  the  introduction  of  at  least  some  idols  or 
images  within  the  limits  of  Georgia. 

Without  further  pursuing  this  inquiry  into  the  re- 
corded observations  of  the  early  writers  who  have  en- 
deavored to  inform  us  with  regard  to  the  religion  of 
the  Southern  Indians,  it  will  be  perceived  that,  while 
we  have  thus  far  failed  to  note  any  emphatic  account 


430  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

declaring  the  existence  of  idol-worship  among  the 
Georgia  tribes,  we  are  certified  of  the  fact  that  idols 
were  seen  in  the  possession  of  coterminous  nations,  and 
that  they  were  held  in  superstitious  veneration  and 
regarded,  in  some  measure  at  least,  as  objects  of  devo- 
tion. It  does  appear,  however,  that  they  occupied,  in 
the  esteem  of  the  natives,  a  position  far  inferior  to 
that  conceded  to  the  sun  or  to  the  Great  Spirit,  and 
that  they  constituted  only  a  sort  of  religious  machinery 
in  the  hands  of  kings,  priests,  conjurers,  and  old  men, 
with  which  to  dignify  temples,  supplement  certain 
sacred  festivals,  and  operate  upon  the  fears  and  credu- 
lity of  the  more  ignorant  and  unthinking  masses.  One 
is  tempted  to  regard  them  rather  as  conjurers'  images, 
as  the  private  property  of  priests,  as  the  likenesses  of 
famous  dead,  and  as  the  potent  charms  of  medicine- 
men, than  as  the  generally  acknowledged  embodiments 
of  the  person  and  presence  of  unseen  yet  recognized 
divinities. 

Although  Bolzius,  Bartram,  Adair,  and  others, 
deny  either  positively  or  inferentially  the  existence  of 
idols  or  images  within  the  limits  then  occupied  by  the 
Georgia  Indians,  subsequent  investigations  prove  by 
the  discovered  presence  of  the  images  themselves,  that 
at  some  time  or  other  idol-worship  of  some  sort  was 
here  practised.  The  'ornamented  posts,  the  wooden 
images,  and  the  questionable  figures  of  men,  birds,  and 
animals  sketched  upon  the  white  walls  of  the  Creek 
houses — if  any  religious  significance  they  possessed — 
have  long  since  perished.  Next  in  the  order  of  du- 
rability are  small  images  formed  of  burnt  clay  and 
modelled  after  the  similitude  of  birds  and  animals, 
and  of  man.  (See  Plate  XXV.)  These  occur  in 
various  parts  of  the  State,  and  vary  in  height  from 


Pi  a t^  XXV. 


AM.  PHOTOLITHOGRAPHIC  CO  H  Y.  I  OSBOKHBS  process) 


CLAY   AXD    STOKE   IMAGES.  431 

three  to  seven  inches.  Those  which  represent  the 
human  figure  are  little  more  than  rude  terra-cotta  dolls 
clumsily  fashioned.  The  owl,  the  wild-cat,  and  the 
sun,  were  favorite  subjects  for  imitation  at  the  hands 
of  the  primitive  artists.  So  readily  could  they  have 
been  made,  and  so  little  care  was  generally  bestowed 
upon  their  construction,  that  it  may  well  be  questioned 
whether  they  amounted  to  much  more  than  playthings 
for  children.  It  may  be,  however,  that  in  the  reper- 
tory of  the  priest,  the  conjurer,  and  the  medicine-man, 
they  possessed  greater  dignity  and  were  designed  for 
more  important  purposes. 

In  a  previous  chapter  we  have  described  several 
interesting  idol-pipes,  and  have  suggested  that  they 
were  in  all  likelihood  intimately  associated  with  the 
religious  ceremonies  of  the  aborigines.  Whether  they 
should  properly  be  classed  with  the  simulacra  which 
we  now  proceed  to  consider,  we  do  not  confidently 
affirm  or  deny.  So  far  as  the  writer's  information  ex- 
tends, comparatively  few  stone  idols  have  been  found 
in  Georgia.  These  occurred  in  the  upper  portions  of 
the  State,  and  chiefly  in  the  valley  of  the  Etowah. 

In  an  old  Indian  field  in  Dirt-Town  Valley,  in 
Chattooga  County,  some  years  since,  was  ploughed  up 
what  may  be  termed  an  idol-sanctuary.  It  was  made 
of  a  cube  of  limestone  six  inches  each  way.  The 
upper  portion  or  roof  consisted  of  a  quadrangular 
pyramid,  with  a  base  six  inches  square,  terminating  in 
an  apex  four  inches  high,  thus  giving  to  the  entire  ob- 
ject an  altitude  of  ten  inches.  In  one  face  was  an  aj)er- 
ture  or  doorway,  arched  at  the  top,  extending  almost 
from  the  bottom  of  the  structure  nearly  to  the  base  of 
the  pyramid-shaped  top.  The  interior  of  this  shrine  had 
been  carefully  excavated,  so  that  its  sides  and  bottom 


432  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

were  not  more  than  half  an  inch  in  thickness.  In  front 
of  this  arched  doorway,  and  against  the  opposite  wall, 
a  little  image  was  seated  upon  a  pedestal.  Only  the 
countenance  was  visible,  the  figure  being  concealed  by 
drapery.  On  either  side  was  a  pedestal  similar  in  form 
to  that  upon  which  the  image  sat,  and  about  half  the 
size.  In  the  walls  to  the  right  and  left  of  the  idol  a 
window  had  been  cut  much  smaller  than,  but  similar  in 
outline  to,  the  doorway.  The  whole  affair  had  been 
carved  out  of  a  solid  block  of  limestone-rock. 

In  1860  a  stone  idol  was  found  a  few  miles  from 
Catoosa  Springs.  It  was  about  sixteen  inches  high, 
and  represented  a  male  figure  in  a  sitting  posture. 

In  the  possession  of  Colonel  Lewis  Tumlin,  in 
1859,  the  writer  examined  an  idol  which  had  been 
ploughed  up  near  the  large  mound  on  the  Etowah 
River,  upon  the  plantation  of  that  gentleman.  It * 
was  made  of  a  coarse  dark  sandstone,  and  was  twelve 
inches  high.  It  consisted  of  a  male  figure  in  a  sitting 
posture.  The  knees  were  drawn  up  almost  upon  a 
level  with  the  chin,  the  hands  resting  upon  and  clasp- 
ing either  knee.  The  chin  and  forehead  were  retreat- 
ing. The  hair  was  gathered  into  a  knot  behind.  The 
face  was  upturned  and  the  eyes  were  angular.  Unfor- 
tunately, this  image  was  lost  or  destroyed  amid  the  deso- 
lations consequent  upon  Sherman's  march  through 
Georgia  in  1864,  but  its  place  has  been  supplied  by 
another  recently  found  in  the  same  neighborhood.  It 
was  ploughed  up  on  Colonel  Tumlin's  plantation, 
near  the  base  of  the  large  tumulus2  located  within  the 
area  formed  by  the  moat  and  the  Etowah  River,  and 

tones'  "Monumental  Remains  of  Georgia,"  parti,  pp.    108,109.    Savan- 
nah, 1861. 

2  Ibid.,  part  1,  p.  27,  et  seq.     Savannah,  1861. 


Flate  IXV7 


AM  PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHIC  CO  H  )     OSBORNfG  PROCESS  ' 


ETOWAH    IDOL.  433 

is  certainly  the  most  interesting  idol  thus  far  dis- 
covered in  this  State.  The  accompanying  front,  rear, 
and  profile  views  (see  Plate  XXVI.),  afford  an  intelli- 
gent idea  of  the  peculiarities  of  this  image.  It  is  a 
female  figure,  in  a  sitting  posture.  The  legs,  however, 
are  entirely  rudimentary  and  unformed.  Its  height  is 
fifteen  inches  and  three-quarters,  and  its  weight  thirty- 
three  and  a  half  pounds.  Cut  out  of  a  soft  talcose 
rock,  originally  of  a  grayish  hue,  it  has  been  in  time 
so  much  discolored  that  it  now  presents  a  ferruginous 
appearance.  Below  the  navel,  and  enveloping  the  but- 
tocks and  rudimentary  thighs,  is  a  hip-dress,  orna- 
mented both  on  the  left  side  and  behind  by  rectangu- 
lar, circular,  and  irregular  Hues.  The  ears  are  pierced, 
and  the  head  is  entirely  bald.  In  the  centre  of  the  top 
of  the  head  a  hole  has  been  drilled  half  an  inch  in 
depth,  and  five-tenths  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  This 
probably  formed  the  socket  in  which  some  head-orna- 
ment was  seated.  That  ornament,  whatever  it  was, 
had  fallen  out  and  was  lost  when  the  image  was  found. 
Springing  from  the  back  of  the  head  and  attached  at 
the  other  end  to  the  back  midway  between  the  shoul- 
ders, is  a  substantial  handle  by  means  of  which  this 
image  could  have  been  securely  suspended  or  safely 
transported  from  place  to  place.  The  mammary  glands 
are  sharply  defined  and  maidenly  in  their  appearance. 
The  ears,  hand,  and  navel  are  rudely  formed.  The 
impression  conveyed  is  that  of  a  dead,  young,  flat-head, 
Indian  woman.  Unfortunately,  the  left  arm  has  been 
broken  off,  but  otherwise  this  idol  is  in  a  state  of 
remarkable  preservation.  Dr.  Berendt  and  Professor 
Kau — to  whom  the  writer  exhibited  this  image— con 
curred  in  opinion  that  this  figure  bears  little  resem- 
blance to  objects  of  the  same  class  found  in  the  more 


434  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

southern  parts  of  this  continent.  Naked  figures  are 
rarely  seen  there,  nearly  all  of  them  being  clothed, 
and,  generally,  highly  ornamented,  especially  about 
the  head,  which,  in  the  present  instance,  is  entirely 
bare  and  even  without  ear-ornaments.  The  features 
are  more  like  the  North  American  than  the  Central 
American  Indian,  and  the  remaining  hand  is  fleshier 
than  is  usually  observed  among  the  Central  American 
images.  The  marks  on  the  back  and  sides  also  resem- 
ble more  closely  the  North  American  pictographs  or 
rock  and  stone  inscriptions  than  they  do  the  Central 
American  hieroglyphics.  We  presume,  with  the  lights 
now  before  us,  it  must  be  admitted  that  this  is  an 
Indian  image,  the  handiwork  of  some  nomadic  tribe 
which  possessed  this  region  some  time  during  the  by- 
gone centuries,  and,  in  turn,  was  expelled  from  the 
occupancy  of  this  beautiful  valley  by  other  and  later 
representatives  of  the  North  American  type.  We  are 
*  warranted  in  the  assertion  that  the  modern  Cherokees ' 
disclaimed  all  share  in  the  erection  of  the  mounds  in 
whose  proximity  this  idol  was  found.  They  even  went 
so  far  as  to  declare  that  they  possessed  not  even  a 
tradition  of  the  peoples  by  whom  they  were  made,  and 
that  their  forefathers  saw  them  for  the  first  time  in  a 
state  of  completion  when  they  occupied  the  country. 
They  further  repudiated  the  idea  that  their  nation  had 
at  any  time  been  addicted  either  to  the  manufacture  or 
the  worship  of  idols.  We  may,  therefore,  safely  con- 
clude that  this  is  not  a  Cherokee  idol,  certainly  of  a 
late  date.  Where  there  are  no  letters,  no  histories,  no 
inscribed  monuments,  one  wave  of  human  life  sweeps 
over  another  and  the  tradition  of  to-day  is  swallowed 

1  Haywood's  "Natural  and  Aboriginal  History  of  Tennessee,"  p.  226.     Nash- 
ville, 1823. 


ETOWAH    IDOL.  435 

up  in  the  equally  frail  memory  of  to-morrow.  Under 
such  circumstances  emphatically  is  it  true  that  "one 
generation  passeth  away  and  another  generation  com- 
eth  ;  but  the  earth  abideth  forever.  There  is  no  re- 
membrance of  former  things :  neither  shall  there  be 
any  remembrance  of  things  that  are  to  come  with  those 
that  shall  come  after." 

We  know  not  how  old  this  Indian  population  was. 
We  cannot  even  positively  assert  that  it  was  not  au- 
tochthonous. We  are  ignorant  of  the  distinctive  names 
and  characteristics  of  the  various  hunter-tribes  which 
may  have  succeeded  each  other  during  the  lapsed 
ages,  in  the  ownership  of  this  soil.  As  we  look  upon 
thi*  rude  monument,  we  are  not  entirely  sure  that  it  is 
emblematic  of  a  past -idolatry.  It  may  be  the  effort  of 
some  primitive  sculptor  to  perpetuate  in  stone  the  form 
and  features  of  some  Indian  maiden  famous  in  the  es- 
teem of  her  family  and  tribe. 

Various  theories  may  be  suggested,  fancied  analo- 
gies traced  and  probable  origins  conjectured,  but,  after 
all,  the  most  we  can  confidently  say  with  regard  to  the 
antiquity  of  this  relic — curious  and  ancient  as  it  un- 
doubtedly appears — is  that  it  is  seemingly  older  than 
the  handiwork  and  the  superstition  of  any  Indian  tribe 
of  which  we  have  any  knowledge  as  resident  upon  the 
beautiful  banks  of  the  Etowah. 

If  object  of  worship  it  was,  this  rude  stone  image, 
outliving  the  generation  by  which  it  was  fashioned 
and  invested  with  superhuman  attributes,  awakened 
from  its  long  sleep  of  neglect  and  desuetude,  conveys 
to  us  of  the  present  day  a  true  conception  of  the  igno- 
rance and  the  superstition  of  that  by-gone  age,  affords 
j)hysical  insight  into  the  condition  of  the  sculptor's  art 
at  that  remote  period,  and  confirms  the  past  existence 


436  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

of  peoples  whose  names  and  origin  are  the  subjects 
only  of  speculation — whose  history  is  perpetuated  sim- 
ply  by  a  few  archaic  relics  which,  having  successfully 
wrestled  with  the  disintegrating  influences  of  tinie,  re- 
main uncrushed  by  the  tread  of  another  and  a  statelier 
civilization.  But  it  is  not  alone  in  Georgia  that  these 
images  are  found.  Tennessee,  above  all  her  sister 
States,  seems  to  be  most  prolific  of  them.  In  the  be- 
ginning of  this  century,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  presented 
Avith  two  "  Indian  busts "  which  were  unearthed  by 
some  laborers  who  were  excavating  along  the  bank  of 
the  Cumberland  Kiver,  near  Palmyra.1  They  are 
described  thus  :  "  The  human  form  extends  to  the 
middle  of  the  body,  and  the  figures  are  nearly  of  the 
natural  size.  The  lineaments  are  strongly  marked, 
and  such  as  are  peculiar  to  the  copper-colored  aborigi- 
nal inhabitants  of  America.  It  is  not  known  of  what 
materials  they  are  made :  some  are  of  opinion  that  they 
have  been  cut  with  a  chisel  or  sharp  instrument  out  of 
stone :  others  think  that  they  have  been  moulded  or 
shaped  of  a  soft  composition,  and  afterwards  baked. 
The  substance  is  extremely  hard.  It  has  not  been  as- 
certained whether  they  are  idols  or  only  images  of  dis- 
tinguished men.  It  will  be  an  interesting  object  of 
research  for  antiquarians  to  discover  who  were  the 
ancestors  of  the  present  Indians  capable  of  executing 
such  a  good  resemblance  of  the  human  head,  face, 
neck,  and  shoulders." 

In  his  account  of  the  antiquities  discovered  in  some 
of  the  Western  States,  Mr.  Caleb  Atwater 2  mentions 
two  idols,  one  found  in  a  tumulus  near  Nashville, 
Tennessee,  and  the  other  dug  up  on  the  site  of  an  old 

1  Monthly  Magazine,  cr  British  Register,  vol.  xxiv.,  part  1,  for  1807,  p.  74. 

2  "  Archaeologia  Americana,"  vol.  i.,  pp.  211,  215.     Worcester,  Mass.,  1820. 


TENNESSEE    IMAGES.  437 

Indian  temple  in  Natchez,  Mississippi.  The  first  was 
made  of  clay,  peculiar  for  its  fineness,  mixed  with  gyp- 
sum. The  second  was  of  stone.  Both  are  figured  in 
the  first  volume  of  the  "  Transactions  and  Collections 
of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society."  In  the  writer's 
collection  there  is  a  clay  image  quite  similar  in  appear- 
ance to  Miss  Clifford's  drawings  of  the  Nashville  idol. 
The  accompanying  notices  of  antique  idols  are  ex- 
tracted from  Mr.  Haywood's  "  Natural  and  Aboriginal 
History  of  Tennessee." 

"  Upon  the  top  of  a  mound  at  Bledsoe's  Lick,  in 
Sumner  County,  Tennessee,  some  years  prior  to  1823, 
was  ploughed  up  an  image  made  of  sandstone.  On 
one  cheek  was  a  mark  resembling  a  wrinkle  passing 
perpendicularly  up  and  down  the  cheek.  On  the 
other  cheek  were  two  similar  marks.  The  breast  was 
that  of  a  female,  and  prominent.  The  face  was  turned 
obliquely  up  towards  the  heavens.  The  palms  of  the 
hands  were  turned  upwards  before  the  face,  and  at 
some  distance  from  it,  in  the  same  direction  that  the 
face  was.  The  knees  were  drawn  near  together  :  and 
the  feet,  with  the  toes  towards  the  ground,  were 
separated  wide  enough  to  admit  of  the  body  being 
seated  between  them.  The  attitude  seemed  to  be  that 
of  adoration.  The  head  and  upper  part  of  the  fore- 
head were  represented  as  covered  with  a  cap,  or  mitre, 
or  bonnet ;  from  the  lower  part  of  which  came  horizon- 
tally a  brim,  from  the  extremities  of  which  the  cap  ex- 
tended upwards  conically.  The  color  of  the  image 
was  that  of  a  dark  infusion  of  coffee.  If  the  front  of 
the  image  were  placed  to  the  east,  the  countenance — 
obliquely  elevated — and  the  uplifted  hands  in  the  same 
direction,  would  be  towards  the  meridian  sun."  * 

1 "  Natural  and  Aboriginal  History  of  Tennessee,"  etc.,  by  John  Haywood,  pp. 
123,  124.     Nashville,  1823. 


438  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE   SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

Of -another  image  or  idol  dug  up  on  the  farm  of 
Mr.  McGilliam  on  Fall  Creek,  in  Wilson  County,- 
Tennessee,  Mr.  Haywood  furnishes  the  following  de- 
scription :  "  The  figure  is  cut  out  of  a  hard  rock,  of 
what  kind  Mr.  Eucker  could  not  determine.  It  was 
designed  for  a  female  statue.  The  legs  were  not 
drawn.  It  only  extends  a  little  below  the  hips.  It  is 
fifteen  inches  long  and  thick  in  proportion.  It  has  a 
fiat  head,  broad  face,  a  disproportionately  long  aquiline 
nose,  low  forehead,  thick  lips,  and  short  neck.  The 
chin  and  cheek  bones  are  not  prominent,  but  far  other- 
wise. On  the  back  of  the  head  is  a  large  projection  so 
shaped  as  to  show,  perhaps,  the  manner  of  tying  and 
wearing  the  hair.  The  nipples  are  well  represented  : 
though  the  breasts  are  not  sufficiently  elevated  for  a 
female  of  maturity.  The  hands  are  resting  on  the  hips, 
the  fingers  in  front,  and  the  arms  a-kimbo.  Around, 
the  back  and  above  the  hips  are  two  parallel  lines  cut, 
as  is  supposed  to  represent  a  zone,  or  belt.  The  ears 
project  at  right  angles  from  the  head,  with  holes 
through  them.  It  was  found  a  few  inches  beneath 
the  surface  of  the  earth.  No  mounds  are  near,  but 
an  extensive  burying-ground  of  apparently  great  an- 
tiquity." 2 

To  the  first  volume  of  the  "Transactions  of  the 
American  Ethnological  Society," 2  Dr.  Troost  contrib- 
uted drawings  of  four  Tennessee  idols.  One  of  them 
is  enshrined  in  a  large  cassis  flammea,  the  interior 
whorls  and  columella  of  which  had  been  removed,  and 
the  front  of  the  shell  cut  away  so  as  to  j>ermit  the  en- 
trance and  proper  location  of  the  image.  In  these 
simulacra  both  sexes  are  represented.     These  idols  are 

1  "Natural  and  Aboriginal  History  of  Tennessee,"  pp.  162,  163.  Nashville,  1823. 

2  Pp.  361,  364. 


TENNESSEE    IMAGES.  439 

made,  some  of  tliem  of  sandstone,  and  others  of  a  mix- 
ture of  clay  and  shells.  All  are  rude  in  construction. 
In  the  same  volume  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  in  an  article  upon 
the  Grave-Creek  mound,1  describes  aud  figures  a  stone 
idol  in  a  sitting  posture,  thirteen  inches  high,  which 
was  ploughed  up  on  the  farm  of  a  Mr.  Taylor  some 
eight  miles  south  of  the  Grave-Creek  Flats. 

During  his  recent  investigations,  Professor  Joseph 
Joues  obtained  from  the  tumuli  and  valleys  of  Tennes- 
see several  interesting  idols  both  of  stone,  and  of  clay 
mixed  with  pounded  shells.  Without  extending  these 
observations,  it  may  be  stated  that  images  of  this 
archaic  type  have  been  found  also  in  Kentucky,  Vir- 
ginia, South  and  North  Carolina,  Louisiana,  Alabama, 
and  Florida.  The  scope  of  the  present  inquiry  does 
not  lead  us  to  an  examination  of  such  as  have  been  ob- 
served in  more  northern  and  western  localities.  The 
worship  of  the  Priapus  probably  obtained  among  some 
of  the  Southern  Indian  nations.  In  the  collection  of 
Dr.  Troost  were  many  carefully-caiwed  representations 
in  stone  of  the  male  organ  of  generation.  They  were 
found  principally  within  the  present  limits  of  the  State 
of  Tennessee.  But  two  objects  of  this  sort,  so  far  as 
our  observation  extends,  have  been  noted  among  the 
relics  of  the  Georgia  tribes,  and  these  were  about  twelve 
inches  long,  made  of  slate.  In  some  parts  of  Alabama, 
and  in  Mississippi,  similar  objects  have  been  exhumed 
from  grave-mounds. 

There  is  another  class  of  objects  which  commanded 
the  attention,  and  to  all  appearances,  the  veneration 
and  perhaps  worship  of  these  ancient  peojxles.  A 
stone  which   from  some   natural  cause  assumed   the 

1  "Transactions  of  the  American  Ethnological  Society,"  vol.  i.,  p.  408.     New- 
York,  1845. 


440  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

shape  of  a  man  or  an  animal  was  held  in  special  es- 
teem, and  artificial  means  were  sometimes  adopted  to 
heighten  the  fancied  resemblance.  Such  objects  were 
regarded  as  fit  dwelling-places  for  some  manitou  or 
spiritual  influence.  To  Mr.  Schoolcraft  we  are  indebt- 
ed for  several  illustrations — one  of  which  represents 
a  natural  idol  found  at  the  base  of  a  mound  in 
South  Carolina.1  From  mounds  and  refuse-piles  the 
writer  has  obtained  relics  of  this  description  which 
doubtless  answered  some  superstitious  purpose  in  the 
hands  of  a  conjurer,  priest,  or  medicine-man.  While 
the  early  writers  discountenance  the  idea  that  idol- 
worship  existed  among  the  Georgia  tribes  at  the  period 
of  our  first  acquaintance  with  them,  remembering  the 
recorded  testimony  with  regard  to  the  religious  cere- 
monies, superstitions  and  practices  of  other  and  neigh- 
boring nations  who  were  addicted,  at  least  in  some 
measure,  to  this  sort  of  adoration,  and  appreciating  the 
fact  that  stone  idols  and  clay  images  have  been  found 
not  only  in  portions  of  this  State,  but  also  within  the 
limits  of  coterminous  States,  the  conclusion  seems  irre- 
sistible that  at  some  time  or  other,  and  among  these 
pecfples  or  those  who  preceded  them  in  the  occupancy 
of  this  region,  something  like  the  worship  of  idols  ob- 
tained. Future  and  more  extended  observations  may 
enable  us  more  intelligently  to  comprehend  the  secrets 
of  the  past,  and  then  we  will  be  able  to  modify,  con- 
firm, or  reject  present  conjectures. 

1  See  Squier's  '"Antiquities  of  the  State  of  New  York,"  etc.,  pp.   171,  172. 
Buffalo,  1851. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

Pottery. 

It  lias  been  truthfully  remarked  that  articles  of 
fictile  ware  are  at  once  the  most  fragile  and  the  most 
enduring  of  human  monuments.  A  piece  of  common 
pottery,  liable  to  be  shivered  to  pieces  by  a  slight 
blow,  is  more  lasting  than  epitaphs  in  brass  and  effigies 
in  bronze.  These  yield  to  the  varying  action  of  the 
weather ;  stone  crumbles  away,  ink  fades  and  paper 
decays  ;  but  the  earthen  vase,  deposited  in  some  quiet 
but  forgotten  receptacle,  survives  the  changes  of  time 
and,  even  when  broken  at  the  moment  of  its  discovery, 
affords  instruction  in  its  fragments.  In  their  power 
of  traversing  accumulated  ages  and  affording  glimpses 
of  ancient  times  and  peoples,  fictile  articles  have  been 
compared  to  the  fossils  of  animals  and  plants  which 
reveal  to  the  educated  eye  the  former  conditions  of  our 
globe.1 

Perhaps  nothing  of  a  physical  character  more  clearly 
determines  the  degree  of  civilization  attained  by  a  na- 
tion than  the  progress  made  in  the  fictile  art.  In  the 
rudest  stages  of  human  existence  vessels  of  some  sort 
are  required  for  the  conveyance  of  water  and  the  prep- 

1  "Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  vol.  xviii.,  p.  430,  eighth  edition. 


£42  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

aration  of  food.  Hence,  in  those  remote  ages  when 
we  catch  indistinct  glimpses  of  man,  as  an  animal, 
wrestling  with  the  lowest  wants  of  his  nature  and 
scarce  able  to  defend  himself  against  the  inclement 
seasons  and  the  attacks  of  wild  beasts,  we  find  only  the 
meanest  forms  of  domestic  utensils,  such  as  gourds, 
thinking-cups  of  conch  or  horn,  bark  basins,  wooden 
troughs,  skin  bags,  and  coarse  earthen  pots  and  pans. 
The  conformation  and  composition  of  such  primitive 
pottery  indicate  the  inexperience  and  awkwardness  of 
the  artificers,  and  convey  a  decided  impression  of  the 
barbarity  of  the  race  to  which  they  belonged.  As  the 
darkness  of  a  half-clad,  nomadic  existence  is  gradually 
dispelled  by  the  dawning  light  of  civilization,  and  men 
begin  to  emerge  from  the  savage  state,  the  first  step  in 
this  development  is  marked  by  a  change  for  the  better 
in  the  ceramic  art.  The  archaic  type  of  pottery  is 
abandoned  for  forms  far  more  graceful  and  intellectual, 
and  the  crude  clay  discarded  for  material  more  durable 
and  attractive.  From  its  rude  beginning  to  its  present 
stage  of  picturesque  and  beautiful  development,  the 
potter's  art  has  always  been  invested  with  peculiar 
interest  and  historic  value.  It  may  be  regarded  as  the 
faithful  chronicler  of  man's  progress — a  fair  exponent 
of  the  degree  of  his  barbarity  or  civilization,  and  often 
the  recorder  of  events  and  periods  which  would  other- 
wise have  faded  from  the  recollection  of  succeeding 
generations.  Hieroglyphically  impressed  upon  the  sun- 
dried  bricks  of  Egypt  are  the  names  of  a  kingly  series 
which,  but  for  these  relics,  would  have  irretrievably 
perished.  The  sites  of  ancient  Mesopotamia  and  As- 
syria are  traced  by  means  of  the  cuneiform  inscriptions 
upon  the  clay  bricks  of  which  their  proudest  edifices 
were  constructed.     The  Koman  bricks  have  also  borne 


IIISTOEICAL    VALUE    OF    FICTILE    WARE.  443 

their  testimony.  Many  of  them  retain  the  names  of 
the  consuls  of  imperial  Rome,  while  others  prove  that 
the  proud  nobility  of  the  Eternal  City  derived  their 
revenues  from  the  kilns  of  their  Campanian  and  Sabine 
farms.1 

Grecian  colonization  and  its  esthetic  influences, 
remarks  Professor  Wilson,2  are  traced  along  the  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Euxine  by  beautiful 
fictile  ware  and  sepulchral  pottery.  Etruria's  history 
is  written  to  a  great  extent  in  the  same  fragile  yet  en- 
during characters.  The  footprints  of  the  Roman  con- 
queror are  clearly  defined  to  the  utmost  limits  of  im- 
perial dominion  by  the  like  evidence ;  and  sepulchral 
pottery  is  frequently  the  only  conclusive  proof  which 
enables  the  European  ethnologist  to  discriminate  be- 
tween the  grave  of  the  intruding  conqueror  and  that  of 
the  aboriginal  occupant  of  the  soil.  Apart,  therefore, 
from  the  exquisite  beauty  of  many  remains  of  fictile 
art,  which  confers  on  them  a  high  intrinsic  value,  the 
works  of  the  potter  have  been  minutely  studied  by  the 
archaeologist  and  are  constantly  referred  to  as  historical 
evidence  of  the  geographical  limits  of  ancient  empires. 

Few  peoples,  how  degraded  soever,  have  failed  to 
bequeath  some  specimens  of  pottery — crude  and  mis- 
shapen though  they  be — to  rescue  the  fact  of  their 
former  existence  from  utter  oblivion.  The  absence  of 
pottery  in  the  Reindeer  period  in  France  furnishes  a 
decided  exception,  and  affords  proof  alike  of  the  great 
antiquity  of  the  cave-dwellers  of  Dordogne  and  of  the 
very  low  state  of  their  civilization.3 

In  Europe,  where  prehistoric  archaeology  may  be 

1  Birch's  "History  of  Ancient  Pottery." 

2  "  Prehistoric  Man,"  p.  342,  second  edition.     London,  1865. 

3  Lubbock's  "  Prehistoric  Times,"  p.  326,  second  edition.     London,  1869. 


444  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

divided  into  four  great  epochs — the  Palaeolithic  and 
the  Neolithic  periods,  the  Bronze  and  the  Iron  ages — 
careful  study  has  been  bestowed  upon  the  peculiar 
characteristics  of  the  pottery  of  each  period.  The  con- 
clusion to  which  this  examination  leads  is  this,  that 
while  the  potter's  wheel  was  probably  unknown  in 
both  the  Stone  and  Bronze  epochs,  the  material  of 
which  the  Stone-age  pottery  is  composed  is  rougher 
than  that  which  was  used  during  the  Bronze  period. 
The  ornaments  of  the  two  periods  show,  also,  says  Sir 
John  Lubbock,1  a  great  contrast.  In  the  Stone  age 
they  consist  of  impressions  made  by  the  nail  or  the  fin- 
ger, and  sometimes  by  a  cord  twisted  round  the  soft 
clay.  The  lines  are  all  straight,  or,  if  curved,  are  very 
irregular  and  badly  drawn.  In  the  Bronze  age  all  the 
patterns  present  in  the  Stone  age  are  continued,  but 
in  addition  we  find  circles  and  spirals  ;  while  imitations 
of  animals  and  plants  are  characteristic  of  the  Iron 
age. 

In  North  America,  where  we  have  almost  exclu- 
sively a  Stone  age  distinguished  by  relics  more  varied 
than  those  of  perhaps  any  other  quarter  of  the  globe, 
the  art  of  pottery  attained  a  considerable  degree  of  per- 
fection. The  ornamentation  is  as  diversified  and  com- 
prehensive as  that  of  all  the  ancient  epochs  of  Europe 
combined.  The  manufacture  of  fictile  articles  for  do- 
mestic use,  devotion,  and  ornament,  seems  to  have  been 
carried  on  by  most  of  the  Indian  tribes,  from  time  im- 
memorial. The  Southern  Indians  excelled  in  the 
ceramic  art,  special  care  having  been  bestowed  upon 
the  selection  and  preparation  of  their  clays,  and  no 
little  taste  displayed  both  in  the  shape  and  ornamenta- 
tion of  their  vessels.     The  use  of  these  frail  utensils 

1  "Prehistoric  Times,"  p.  16,  second  edition.     London,  1S69. 


POTTERY    OF   THE    FLORIDA    INDIANS.  445 

was,  however,  at  an  early  period  superseded  by  the 
employment  of  more  serviceable  articles  obtained  from 
the  whites,  and  the  fabrication  of  pottery  was,  with 
but  few  exceptions,  speedily  abandoned  wdienever  am- 
ple opportunity  was  afforded  for  the  purchase  of  Euro- 
pean copper  kettles,  iron  pots,  and  tin-ware.  This 
fact  increases  our  interest  in  these  perishable  relics, 
and  causes  us  to  cherish  very  tenderly  all  specimens  of 
this  character. 

At  the  period  of  our  first  acquaintance  with  the 
Southern  Indians,  the  fabrication  and  use  of  earthen 
vessels  were  very  general.  The  Fidalgo  of  Elvas-1  pays 
high  compliment  to  the  pottery  of  the  region  when  he 
describes  it  as  "  little  differing  from  that  of  Estremoz 
or  Montemor."  He  records  the  circumstance  that  the 
natives  "  had  great  store  of  walnut  oil — clear  as  butter, 
and  of  a  good  taste — and  of  the  honey  of  bees  pre- 
served in  pots." 

It  would  appear  from  Cabeca  de  Vaca's  account 2 
that  some  of  the  Southern  tribes  were  either  ignorant 
or  neglectful  of  the  potter's  art.  Of  such  he  writes : 
"  Their  method  of  cooking  is  so  new,  that  for  its 
strangeness,  I  desire  to  speak  of  it ;  thus  it  may  be  seen 
and  remarked  how  curious  and  diversified  are  the  con- 
trivances and  ingenuity  of  the  human  family.  Not 
having  discovered  the  use  of  pipkins  to  boil  what  they 
would  eat,  they  fill  the  half  of  a  large  calabash  with 
water,  and  throw  on  the  fire  many  stones  of  such  as  are 
most  convenient  and  readily  take  the  heat.  "When  hot, 
they  are  taken  up  with  tongs  of  sticks  and  dropped  into 


1  "  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto,"  etc.,  translated  by  Buck- 
ingham Smith,  p.  165.     Bradford  Club  Series,  number  five.     New  York,  1866. 

2  "  Relation  of  Alvar  Nunez  Cabeca  de  Vaca,"  translated  from  the  Spanish  by 
Buckingham  Smith,  p.  161.     New  York,  1871. 


446  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

the  calabash,  until  the  water  in  it  boils  from  the  fervor 
of  the  stones.  Then  whatever  is  to  be  cooked  is  put 
in,  and,  until  it  is  done  they  continue  taking  out 
cooled  stones  and  throwing  in  hot  ones.  Thus  they 
boil  their  food."  In  the  "  Brevis  Narratio  " 1  of  Le 
Moyne  de  Morgues,  we  have  several  illustrations  pur- 
porting to  exhibit  the  forms  of  pottery  in  general  use 
among  the  Florida  Indians. 

The  Chevalier  Tonti,  in  his  general  description  of 
the  Louisiana  Indians,  uses  the  following  language : 
"  They  have  Cellars  or  rather  Holes  to  preserve  their 
Corn,  their  Wood  and  other  Provisions ;  but  all  their 
Kitchin  Utensils  consists  in  some  few  pieces  of  Earth- 
en-Ware which  they  make  with  Clay,  and  harden  it 
with  the  Dung  of  Bulls." 2 

Father  Hennepin 3  asserts  that  before  the  arrival  of 
Europeans  in  North  America  "  both  the  Northern  and 
Southern  Salvages  made  use  of  and  do  to  this  day  use 
Earthen  Pots,  especially  such  as  have  no  Commerce 
with  the  Europeans  from  whom  they  may  procure 
Kettels  and  other  Moveables." 

During  Lieutenant  Timberlake's  sojourn  among 
the  Cherokees  he  observed  that  they  used  two  sorts  of 
clay  from  which  they  made  excellent  vessels  capable 
"V  of  resisting  the  greatest  heat.  At  a  physic-dance  in 
the  town-house  he  saw  a  clay  pot,  set  on  the  fire,  capa- 
ble of  containing  twenty  gallons.4 

Speaking  of  the  same  Indians  Adair 5  asserts  that 

1  Plates  viii.,  xi.,  xx.,  xxviii.,  xxix.     Francoforti  ad  Moenuni.     De  Bry,  anno 
1591. 
— -__^.a  "  An  Account  of  Monsieur  de  la  Salle's  Last  Expedition,"  etc.,  p.  12.     Lon- 
don, 1698. 

3  "  Continuation  of  the  New  Discovery  of  a  Vast  Country  in  America,"  etc.,  p. 
102.     London,  1698. 

4  "Memoirs,"  etc.,  pp.  62,  77.     London,  1765. 

5  "  History  of  the  American  Indians,"  p.  424.     London,  1775. 


POTTERY    OF   THE    LOUISIANA   INDIANS.  447 

in  his  day  they  made  "  earthen  pots  of  very  different 
sizes  so  as  to  contain  from  two  to  ten  gallons ;  large 
pitchers  to  cany  water,  bowls,  dishes,  platters,  basons, 
and  a  prodigious  number  of -other  vessels  of  such  anti- 
X  quated  forms  as  would  be  tedious  to  describe  and  im- 
possible to  name.  Their  method  of  glazing  them  is, 
they  place  them  over  a  large  fire  of  smoky  pitch-pine 
which  makes  them  smooth,  black  and  firm.  Their 
lands  abound  with  proper  clay  for  that  use ;  and  even 
with  porcelain,  as  has  been  proved  by  experiment.1' 

Loskiel '  tells  us  that  the  Delawares  and  Iroquois 
had  pots  and  boilers  made  of  clay  mixed  with 
pounded  sea-shells,  and  burnt  so  hard  that  they  were 
black  throughout ;  and  Joutel  affirms  that  the  Indians 
inhabiting  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  were  very  skil- 
ful at  making  earthen  vessels  wherein  they  boiled  their 
flesh,  or  roots,  or  sagamise.2 

In  commenting  upon  the  customs  of  the  Louisiana 
tribes,  Du  Pratz 3  writes :  "  To  prepare  their  maiz  for 
food  and  likewise  their  venison  and  game  there  was 
necessity  for  dressing  them  over  the  fire,  and  for  this 
purpose  they  bethought  themselves  of  earthen  ware 
which  is  made  by  the  women  who  not  only  form  the 
vessel,  but  dig  up  and  mix  the  clay.  In  this  they  are 
tolerable  artists:  they  make  kettles  of  an  extraordi- 
nary size,  pitchers  with  a  small  opening,  gallon  bottles 
with  long  necks,  pots  or  pitchers  for  their  bear  oil 
which  will  hold  forty  pints ;  lastly,  large  and  small 
plates  in  the  French  fashion.  I  had  some  made  out 
of  curiosity  upon  the  model  of  my  delf  ware,  which 

1  "  History  of  the  Mission  of  the  United  Brethren,"  etc.,  part  1,  p.  54.     Lon- 
don, 1794. 

2  "  Historical  Journal,"  etc,     French's  Historical  Collection  of  Louisiana,  part 
1,  p.  149.     New  York,  1846. 

3"  History  of  Louisiana,"  p.  360.     London,  1774. 


448  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

were  a  very  pretty  red."  The  kitchen  utensils  of  the 
Alabama  Indians  consisted  of  dishes  and  pots  of 
earthen-ware,  and  deep  wooden  dishes.  "  They  made 
cups  of  calebashes,  and  spoons  of  the  horns  of  wild 
oxen,  which  they  cut  through  the  middle  and  form 
into  the  proper  shape  by  means  of  fire."  '  Haywood a 
mentions  the  existence  in  the  mounds  of  Tennessee  of 
fragments  of  pottery  composed  of  clay  and  pounded 
cockle-shells. 

It  was  Lawson's  impression  that  the  earthen  pots 
found  buried,  and  at  the  foot  of  banks  whence  the 
water  had  washed  them,  were  of  a  sort  different  from 
those  in  use  by  the  Carolina  Indians  Avhen  he  so- 
journed among  them.  He  asserts  that  the  ancient 
pottery  was  "thicker,  of  another  shape  and  composi- 
tion, and  nearly  resembled  the  urns  of  the  ancient 
Romans."  3 

In  plate  xv.  of  Hariot's  "  Virginia,"  we  are  advised 
of  the  method  in  which  the  natives  seethed  "their 
meate  in  earthen  pottes."  Says  the  translator :  "  Their 
woemen  know  how  to  make  earthen  vessells  with 
special  Cunninge,  and  that  so  large  and  fine,  that  our 
potters  with  thoye  wheles  can  make  noe  better ;  ant 
then  Remoue  them  from  place  to  place  as  easelye  as 
we  can  doe  our  brassen  kettles.  After  they  haue  set 
them  uppon  an  heape  of  erthe  to  stay  them  from  fall- 
inge,  they  putt  wood  vnder,  which,  being  kyndled, 
one  of  them  taketh  great  care  that  the  fyre  burne 
equallye  Ronnde  abowt.  They  or  their  woemen  fill 
the  vessel  with  water,  and  then  putt  they  in  fruite, 
flesh,  and  fish,  and  lett  all  boyle  together  like  a  gallie- 

1  Bossu's  "  Travels  through  Louisiana,"  vol.  i.,  p.  224.     London,  1*771. 

2  "Natural  and  Aboriginal  History  of  Tennessee,"  p.  139.     Nashville,  1823. 

3  "  History  of  Carolina,"  pp.  278,  279.     Reprint.     Raleigh,  1860. 


MANUFACTURE    OF    CLAY    UTENSILS.  440 

maufiye,  which  the  Spaaiarde  call  olla  podrida. 
Then  they  putte  yt  out  into  disches,  and  sett  before 
the  companye,  and  then  they  make  good  cheere  to- 
gether." ' 

We  conclude  these  citations  in  support  of  the  fact 
that  the  Southern  Indians  at  the  time  of  primal  con- 
tact between  them  and  the  whites  were  almost  uni- 
versally cognizant  of  and  practising  the  potter's  art, 
by  an  observation  of  that  intelligent  and  entertaining 
traveller,  William  Bartram,3  to  whom  we  are  indebted 
for  so  much  valuable  information  respecting  the  Geor- 
gia tribes  in  1773  :  "  As  to  mechanic  arts  or  manufac- 
tures, at  present  they  have  scarcely  any  thing  worth 
observation,  since  they  are  supplied  with  necessaries, 
conveniences,  and  even  superfluities  by  the  white 
traders.  The  men  perform  nothing  except  erecting 
their  mean  habitations,  forming  their  canoes,  stone 
pipes,  tambour,  eagle's  tail  or  standard,  and  some 
other  trifling  matters ;  for  war  and  hunting  are  their 
principal  employments.  The  women  are  more  vigi- 
lant, and  turn  their  attention  to  various  manual  em- 
ployments: they  make  all  their  pottery  or  earthen- 
ware, mocasins,  spin  and  weave  the  curious  belts  and 
diadems  for  men,  fabricate  lace,  fringe,  embroider  and 
decorate  their  apparel,"  etc.,  etc. 

The  statement,  therefore,  is  historically  correct  that 
until,  through  their  intercourse  with  the  early  explor- 
ers and  first  settlers,  the  Southern  Indians  became  con- 
vinced of  the  superiority  of  the  copper  and  iron  kettles 
and  articles  of  crockery  then  introduced  and  of  their 


1  "A  Briefe  and  True  Report  of  the  New-found  Land  of  Virginia,"  etc.     Fran- 
coforti  ad  Mcenum.     De  Bry,  anno  1590. 

2  "Travels  through  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia,''  etc.,  p.  511.     Lon- 
don, 1*792.' 

29 


450  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

ability  to  possess  them,  they  adhered  to  their  primi- 
tive manufacture  of  clay  utensils  of  various  forms. 
With  the  general  introduction  of  these  more  durable 
articles  of  European  construction  dates  the  decline  of 
the  ceramic  art  among  the  North  American  tribes. 
That  decadence  was  niore  or  less  rapid  as  the  inter- 
course between  the  races  became  partially  or  perma- 
nently established ;  and  to  such  an  extent  has  it  pro- 
gressed that,  in  the  language  of  Prof.  Rau,  at  the  pres- 
ent time  this  aboriginal  art  may  be  considered  as  al- 
most if  not  entirely  extinct  among  the  tribes  still  in- 
habiting the  territory  of  the  United  States,  excepting 
some  in  New  Mexico  and  Arizona  who  have  not  yet 
abandoned  the  manufacture  of  earthen-ware. 

In  York  County,  South  Carolina,  dwell  some  sixty 
survivors  of  the  once  powerful  Catawba  nation.  By 
them  the  fabrication  of  fictile  articles  has  not  been 
wholly  discontinued.  This  is  done,  however,  rather 
7s  with  a  view  to  satisfying,  at  a  good  price,  the  demands 
of  strangers  who  make  frequent  application  for  their 
wares,  than  in  perpetuation  of  the  ceramic  art  as  it 
once  existed  among  them. 

The  pottery  of  the  Southern  Indians  is  superior  to 
that  manufactured  by  Northern  tribes.  It  is  more 
varied  in  form,  symmetrical  in  shape,  excellent  in 
composition,  and  diversified  in  ornamentation.  The 
abundance  of  choice  clay,  a  climate  salubrious  the  year 
round,  the  presence  of  fish  and  game  in  plenty,  and 
the  fact  that  Nature  spontaneously  gratified  many 
wants — combined  with  the  general  dissemination  of  art 
ideas  apparently  derived  from  the  Natchez — afforded 
ample  leisure  and  facilities  for  the  careful  fabrication 
of  fictile  ware  and  tended  to  develop  a  degree  of  taste 
and  skill  which  not  infrequently  challenges  our  admira- 


MANUFACTURE    OF    POTTERY.  451 

tion.  The  presence  of  sherds  all  over  the  cultivated 
fields  attests  the  numbers  of  clay  vessels  which  were 
everywhere  in  use  among  the  aborigines  of  Georgia. 
Especially  do  these  fragments  abound  upon  the  sites 
of  their  villages  and  at  the  principal  bluffs  along  the 
coast  and  water-courses  whither,  in  ancient  times,  they 
resorted  for  the  purposes  of  fishing  and  hunting.  The 
refuse-piles  are  here  filled  with  broken  clay  utensils 
thrown  aside  as  they  perished  with  the  using.  They 
form  an  important  element  in  the  debris  of  the  en- 
campment. Seldom  are  entire  vessels  found  except  in 
mounds  and  graves.  Even  here  it  is  a  difficult  matter 
to  secure  specimens  wholly  free  from  blemish.  Friable 
in  its  character,  this  pottery  was  liable  to  disintegration. 
Under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  when  securely 
deposited  in  tumuli,  the  moisture  of  the  soil  and  the 
weight  of  the  superincumbent  mass  of  earth  in  many 
instances  caused  the  burial-urns  and  cooking-utensils 
to  crack  or  fall  to  pieces.  The  sepulchral  shell-mounds 
and  the  dry  sandy  tumuli  of  the  coast  were  most  con- 
ducive to  the  preservation  of  these  frail  articles.  From 
them  the  best  specimens  have  been  taken. 

The  material  employed  by  the  Georgia  Indians  in 
the  manufacture  of  their  pottery  was  red,  blue,  yellow, 
and  dark-colored  clay.  It  was  often  used  without 
the  admixture  of  any  foreign  substance ;  but  in  many 
cases  this  clay  was  tempered,  mixed  and  kneaded  with 
powdered  shells,  gravel,  or  pulverized  mica.  Experi- 
ence taught  these  primitive  artificers  that  such  a  com- 
position imparted  greater  consistency  to  the  mass  and 
rendered  it  more  capable  of  resisting  the  action  of  fire. 

Sometimes — as  in  the  case  of  flat-bottomed  vessels 
intended  as  receptacles  for  pounded  maize — this  pot- 
tery was  only  sun-dried,  but  generally  the  utensil  was 


452  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN  INDIANS. 

subjected  to  a  hardening  process  by  fire.  The  appli- 
cation of  heat  to  the  interior  of  the  vessel  was  occa- 
sionally so  intense  as  to  cause  a  partial  fusion  of  the 
inner  particles.  This  pottery  appears  to  have  been 
made  by  hand,  although,  so  accurate  are  its  outlines, 
so  homogeneous  its  composition,  and  so  regular  the 
thicknesses  of  the  walls,  that  we  often  wonder  how  it 
could  have  been  so  skilfully  formed  without  the  aid  of 
the  potter's  wheel.  This  earthenware  was  manufac- 
tured by  the  natives  in  almost  every  part  of  the  State. 
Traces  of  the  pits  whence  they  dug  clay,  are  still  ex- 
tant. Scattered  around  are  fragments  of  pottery, 
masses  of  clay  evidently  intended  for  use,  and  the  re- 
mains of  former  fires.  Localities  where  these  potters 
plied  their  trade  may,  to  this  day,  be  clearly  noted  on 
the  coast,  in  the  valleys  of  Little-Shoulder-Bone  Creek, 
of  the  Etowah,  Oostenaula,  and  Chattahoochee  Rivers, 
and  elsewhere.  In  Bibb  and  Cass  Counties  rude  clay- 
hearths  with  elevated  sides  have  been  unearthed, 
which,  from  their  form  and  the  quantities  of  sherds  in 
their  vicinity,  suggest  the  belief  that  they  were  crude 
kilns  for  baking  pottery.  Professor  Rau,  in  his  interest- 
ing article  on  "  Indian  Pottery,"  furnishes  a  valuable  ac- 
count of  some  localities  on  the  left  bank  of  Cahokia 
Creek,  in  the  American  Bottom,  where  the  manufacture 
of  earthen-ware  had  been  carried  on  by  the  Cahokia 
Indians.  "In  some  of  the  Southern  States,"  remark 
Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis,1  "  it  is  said  the  kilns  in 
which  the  ancient  pottery  was  baked  are  now  occa- 
sionally to  be  met  with.  Some  are  represented  still  to 
contain  the  ware,  partially  burned,  and  retaining  the 
rinds  of  the  gourds,  etc.,  over  which  they  were  mod- 
elled, and  which  had  not  been  entirety  removed  by 

1  "Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  p.  195.     Washington,  1848. 


POTTERY-KILNS.  *  453 

the  fire."  "  In  Panola  County,"  says  Mr.  R.  Morris, 
in  a  private  letter,  "are  found  great  numbers  of  what 
are  termed  pottery-lcilm,  in  which  are  masses  of  vitri- 
fied matter  frequently  in  the  form  of  rude  bricks  meas- 
uring twelve  inches  in  length  by  ten  in  breadth." 

In  the  Etowah  Valley— a  region  of  all  others  in 
Georgia  most  rich  in  monuments — ovens,  rudely  con- 
structed of  water-worn  stones,  have  been  discovered, 
with  circular  paved  floorings  indicating  the  long-con- 
tinued presence  of  hot  fires.  Those  which  the  writer 
examined  were  in  ruins,  but  seemed  to  have  been 
about  five  feet  in  diameter.  The  impression  created 
by  these  remains  and  their  surroundings  was,  that 
they  were  intended  for  and  used  as  kilns  for  baking 
pottery. 

Observing  for  a  moment  the  general  characteristics 
of  the  pottery  found  in  Georgia,  we  will  note  that  the 
walls  or  sides  of  the  vessels  vary  in  thickness  from  the 
eighth  to  the  half  of  an  inch.  Some  of  the  largest  sort 
are  thicker  still,  their  bottoms  being  reenforcecl  to  in- 
sure additional  strength.  In  size  there  is  every  varie- 
ty, from  the  little  poculum  capable  of  holding  scarce  a 
pint,  to  the  large  pot  or  flat-bottomed  jar  whose  con- 
sents may  be  calculated  by  the  gallon.  Most  of  the 
vessels  belonging  to  what  may  be  termed  the  archaic 
type,  are  but  slightly  ornamented ;  many  of  them  not 
at  all.  The  same  may  be  affirmed  with  regard  to  the 
coarser  jars  designed  as  receptacles  for  pounded  maize, 
bear-oil,  walnut-oil,  and  honey.  The  rims  of  not  a  few 
of  the '  larger  vessels  curve  outward,  so  as  to  allow  a 
vine  or  cord  to  pass  round  and  under  the  projection, 
and  thus  enable  them  to  be  suspended  over  the  fire. 
Others  have  strong  ears,  by  means  of  which  suspension 
could  have  been  accomplished  with  greater  facility. 


454  ANTIQUITIES   OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

Others  still  lack  both  curved  rim  and  ears  ;  and,  with 
their  rounded  bottoms,  must  have  been  kept  in  an  up- 
right position  through  the  intervention  of  clay  rings 
placed  beneath,  or  by  being  bolstered  up  with  stones, 
fagots,  or  sand.  One  of  the  best  specimens  of  ceramic 
art  we  have  seen  within  the  geographical  limits  of 
Georgia,  is  the  burial-urn  represented  by  Fig.  1,  Plate 
XXVII. 

It  is  fifteen  inches  and  a  half  in  heio-ht,  nine  inches 
in  diameter  in  the  widest  part,  and  ten  inches  and  a 
quarter  across  the  top.  The  graceful  outline  and  gen- 
eral symmetry  of  this  vase  arrest  our  attention.  It 
was  apparently  made  with  the  assistance  of  a  rush  or 
wicker  basket,  as  its  entire  exterior  surface  is  covered 
by  impressions  left  by  the  rushes  or  osier-twigs  upon 
the  clay  while  in  a  plastic  state.  We  know  that  some 
of  the  North  American  tribes  adopted  the  custom  of 
modelling  their  vessels  in  baskets  prepared  for  that 
purpose.  Either  this  method  was  used  in  the  present 
case,  or  else  the  potter,  with  no  little  skill  and  pa- 
tience, imprinted  these  ornamental  lines  while  the  ves- 
sel was  still  soft,  by  means  of  a  cord  or  instrument  of 
some  sort.  The  lines  are  impressed,  not  carved.  The 
circular  ornamentation — running  parallel  with  and 
half  an  inch  distant  from  the  rim — was  doubtless 
made  with  the  end  of  a  hollow  reed  or  bone.  The 
hard  cane  abundant  everywhere  in  the  swamps  of 
Southern  Georgia  and  generally  used  by  the  Indians 
for  arrows,  might  well  have  been  employed  for  this 
purpose.  The  interior  is  quite  smooth.  This  urn  was 
fashioned  of  the  clay  common  to  the  neighborhood  in 
which  it  was  found.  In  its  composition  there  is  au 
admixture  of  gravel,  and,  to  a  limited  extent,  of  pow- 
dered shells.     In  itself  considered,  it  is  a  creditable 


rittte   TXY7T. 


~v~ 


AM  PHora-uiHQttKPHiC  CONY  ,  Oseo.fHES  PROCESS.  I 


BURIAL-TIEN".  455 

example  of  the  skill  of  tlie  primitive  potter.  It  pos- 
sesses, however,  an  individual  history  which  invests  it 
with  additional  interest. 

This  burial-urn  was  found  in  a  small  shell-mound 
on  the  Colonel's  Island,1  in  Liberty  County.  It  was  in 
an  upright  position  and  its  rim  was  about  eighteen 
inches  below  the  surface.  This  little  tumulus  was  evi- 
dently very  old;  and,  although  the  ploughshare  had 
not  torn  it  asunder,  the  changing  seasons  and  the  mer- 
ciless  winds  and  rains  had  sadly  wasted  it.  But  for 
the  quantities  of  stout  oyster-shells  which  entered  into 
its  composition  it  would  long  since  have  been  oblit- 
erated by  these  disintegrating  influences.  The  remark- 
able state  of  preservation  in  which  this  vase  appears 
is  accounted  for  when  we  are  made  acquainted  with 
the  fact  that  it  was  guarded  or  enclosed  by  two  exte- 
rior earthen  vessels  of  ruder  construction  and  thicker 
walls.  Covering  the  top  of  the  outer  vessel  and 
closely  fitting,  was  a  substantial  lid  or  cap  of  baked 
clay,  made  for  the  purpose.  The  exterior  and  middle 
receptacles  were  so  much  softened  and  impaired  by 
the  moisture  of  the  sand  and  shells  that  they  crumbled 
into  fragments  in  the  effort  to  remove  them  and  could 
not  be  restored.  It  was  with  difficulty  that  the  in- 
nermost urn  could  be  lifted  from  its  position.  Expos- 
ure to  the  sun,  however,  soon  caused  it  to  harden. 
Within  this  smallest  and  enclosed  vessel,  thus  pro- 
tected, were  the  bones  of  a  young  child.  They  had 
wellnigh  returned  to  the  mother-dust  from  which  they 

1  In  1V73,  William  Bartram,  while  on  a  visit  to  this  island,  observed  anions 
the  shells  of  a  conical  mound,  and  about  its  centre,  the  rim  of  an  earthen  pot 
which  he  carefully  removed,  drawing  it  out  almost  whole.  "  This  pot,"  he  says, 
"was  curiously  wrought  all  over  the  outside,  representing  basket-work,  and  was 
undoubtedly  esteemed  a  very  ingenious  performance  by  the  people  at  the  age  of 
its  construction." — ("Travels  through  Xort'a  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia,"  etc., 
p.  6.     London,  1792.) 


456  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

sprang.  No  relics,  save  these  funeral-vases,  were 
found  in  this  mound.  This  fact  suggests  two  thoughts 
— one,  that  the  tumulus  was  erected  solely  in  honor 
of  this  infant,  and  consequently  that  it  must  have  been 
the  offspring  of  some  noted  personage  of  the  tribe; 
the  other,  that  it  was  too  young  to  have  come  into 
the  ownership  of  any  articles  except  such  as  must 
have  been  very  perishable  in  their  character. 

Placed  here  perchance  by  the  wife  of  the  chieftain 
— certainly  by  an  affectionate  mother — with  the  fond 
hope  that  this  clay  coffin,  in  all  likelihood  her  own 
handiwork,  would  shield  the  tender  form  of  the  babe 
she  loved  so  well  from  the  chilling  damp  and  the  re- 
morseless decay  of  the  lonely  grave,  this  funeral-vase 
affords  an  affecting  illustration  of  that  sincere  natural 
attachment  which  leads  even  the  uncivilized  parent  to 
wrestle  with  death  for  the  preservation  of  her  buried 
child.  Three  other  instances  of  similar  inhumations 
have  chanced  within  the  writer's  observation,  all  of 
them  occurring  in  mounds  on  the  coast.  It  will  be 
remarked  that  this  sepulchral-urn  is  not  unlike  those 
described  by  Mr.  Atwater  and  figured  on  pages  227 
and  229  in  the  first  volume  of  the  "  Archseologia 
Americana."  Burial- vases  enclosing  human  bones  have 
occasionally  been  found  in  the  grave-mounds  of  Ten- 
nessee, Alabama,  Florida,  Mississippi,  and  South  Caro- 
lina. In  ancient  Greece  it  was  customary  to  deposit 
the  ashes  or  bones  of  the  dead  in  a  cinerary  of  baked 
clay,  bronze,  or  gold,  and  recent  investigations  show 
that  this  method  of  protecting  the  dust  of  the  dejmrted 
was  not  confined  to  the  limits  of  classic  Hellas.  The 
vessel  (Fig.  2,  Plate  XXVII.)  taken  from  an  earth- 
mound  near  Sparta,  in  Hancock  County,  is  fourteen 
inches  high  and  rather  more  than  fourteen  inches  in 


AM  PHOTO  LITHOGRAPHIC  CO  NYJOSBOR'IES  PROCESS) 


VARIOUS    FORMS    OF    ANCIENT   POTTERY.  457 

diameter.  Near  the  rim  we  have  a  repetition  of  the 
circular  or  bead  ornamentation  noticed  on  the  burial- 
vase.  The  ornamentation  of  the  entire  outer  surface 
is  so  varied  and  elaborate  that  we  are  somewhat  at  a 
loss  to  understand  precisely  how  it  was  done.  If  this 
pot  was  moulded  in  a  basket,  the  pattern  of  the  en- 
closing wicker-work  was  unusually  elaborate  and  ar- 
tistic. As  in  the  case  of  the  sepulchral  urn,  all  these 
impressions  were  formed  while  the  clay  was  still  soft. 
There  are  no  indications  of  the  use  of  a  sharp-pointed 
implement  as  in  vessel  Number  3,  Plate  XXV1L,  where 
all  the  lines  and  figures  were  carved  after  the  clay  had 
become  hard. 

Fig.  4,  Plate  XXVII.,  may  be  regarded  as  typical 
of  a  numerous  class  of  flat-bottomed  jars  designed,  as 
has  already  been  intimated,  as  receptacles  for  various 
articles,  such  as  pounded  maize,  bear-oil,  walnut-oil, 
honey,  etc.  It  is  entirely  plain  both  within  and  with- 
out, quite  smooth,  and  measures  rather  more  than 
eight  inches  in  height  and  nine  inches  in  diameter. 
The  dark  clay  of  which  it  is  composed  was  tempered 
with  powdered  shells  and  mica. 

Figs.  5,  6,  and  7,  Plate  XXVII.,  are  accurate  deline- 
ations of  pots  with  ears,  while  Fig.  8,  in  general  out- 
line, assimilates  very  closely  to  the  small  iron  pot  of  the 
present  day.  The  addition  of  legs  was  by  no  means 
usual.  Figs.  9  and  10  of  the  same  plate  acquaint  us 
with  the  shapes  of  the  ordinary  clay  bowls  in  common 
use  among  the  primitive  peoples  of  this  region.  In 
Figs.  1  and  2,  Plate  XXVIII.,  we  observe  the  forms  of 
the  wide-necked  jars.  The  vessels  delineated  in  Figs. 
3  and  4,  of  the  same  Plate,  were  taken  from  an  ancient 
burial-ground  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  near  Shreve- 
port,  while  those  represented  by  the  remaining  Figures 


458  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

in  this  Plate  were  found  by  Professor  Joseph  Jones,  in 
the  stone-graves  and  mounds  of  Tennessee.  Without 
multiplying  these  examples,  the  illustrations  already 
furnished  advise  us  of  the  prevailing  types  of  this  South- 
ern pottery.  All  these  vessels  were  taken  from  grave- 
mounds.  Animal-shaped  and  face-vases  occasionally  oc- 
cur. Of  the  latter  kind  the  well-remembered  and  oft- 
described  triune  vase  is  a  striking  illustration.  Pro- 
fessor C.  Rau  is  now  preparing  a  monograph  upon  face- 
vases  which  will  prove  both  curious  and  interesting. 

Upon  an  examination  of  this  pottery  and  the  many 
sherds  which  everywhere  abound  (some  of  which  are 
figured  in  Plate  XXIX.),  we  are  led  to  believe  that 
the  ornamentation  was  compassed  in  one  or  the  other 
of  the  following  ways : 

I.  By  modelling  the  vessel  inside  of  a  net- work, 
rush-basket,  or  frame  made  of  twigs  or  split  cane,  or 
within  a  gourd,  or  over  blocks  of  wood  or  forms  of 
dried  clay.  It  seems,  moreover,  from  the  delicacy  of 
some  of  the  impressions,  that  a  sort  of  cloth  must  have 
been  first  spread  against  the  sides  of  the  enclosing 
basket  or  framework  before  the  clay  was  j:>ut  in  and 
pressed  against  it.  Perhaps  in  some  instances  the  in- 
terior walls  of  the  gourd  may  have  been  carved  so 
as  to  leave  raised  figures  and  lines  upon  the  vessel 
moulded  within  it. 

II.  By  shaping  the  kneaded  clay  into  the  desired 
form,  with  the  hand,  leaving  the  outer  surface  smooth ; 
and,  when  the  pot  was  dry,  with  a  sharp  flint-flake  or 
bone  carving  straight,  curved,  and  zigzag  lines  with 
greater  or-  less  uniformity  according  to  the  care,  pa- 
tience, and  skill  of  the  artificer. 

III.  The  circular  and  semicircular  depressions — 
with  or  without  elevated  centres — could  have  been 


PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHIC  CO  N  Y.lOSBORHES  PPOCCSS.I 


VARIOUS    METHODS    OF    ORNAMEXTATIOX.  459 

made  by  means  of  a  hollow  reed  cut  off  at  or  near  a 
joint,  as  might  best  indicate  the  artist's  present  fancy. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  some  of  the  indentations 
^  formed  while  the  clay  was  still  in  a  plastic  state,  were 
done  with  the  finger-nail,  which  the  Indians,  in  some 
cases  and  for  certain  purposes,  permitted  to  grow  very 
long.1  Lines  were  impressed  with  the  aid  of  a  thong, 
while  the  more  complicated  figures  may  have  been 
perpetuated  with  the  assistance  of  a  wooden  or  soap- 
stone  die  in  which  the  desired  pattern  was  cut.  Re- 
peated applications  of  the  same  die  to  all  the  exterior 
portions  of  the  vessel  gave  a  uniform  ornamentation. 
The  use  of  several  dies  of  different  designs  materially 
enhanced  the  variety. 

IV.  Frequently  raised  mouldings  near  the  rims,  and 
elevated  ornaments  were  added  while  the  vessel  was 
still  soft,  and  when  the  adhesion  of  these  new  parts 
could  be  readily  compassed. 

V.  The  sides  of  the  vessels  were  sometimes  beau- 
tified by  the  insertion  of  diamond  and  square-shaped, 
parallelogrammic,  and  circular  pieces  of  mica  and  shell. 
Over  the  edges  of  these  inserted  or  impressed  orna- 
ments the  clay  was  slightly  curved,  so  that  when  the 
ware  was  thoroughly  dry  these  pieces  of  mica  and 
shell  remained  permanently  embedded.  A  beautiful 
drinking-cup  ornamented  in  this  way  was  unearthed 
by  a  freshet,  which,  overflowing  the  banks  of  Savannah 
River,  cut  a  channel  through  an  ancient  burial-ground 
near  the  confluence  of  great  Kiokee  Creek  and  that 
stream. 

VI.  The  ornamentation  of  this  earthen-ware  was 
further  accomplished  by  means  of  red,  blue,  and  black 
pigment. 

1  Liwsoa's  "  C.irolina,"  p.  284.     Raleigh  reprint,  1860. 


460  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

When  completed  the  newly-formed  vessel  was 
either  exposed  in  the  sun,  baked  in  a  kiln  or  open 
fire,  or  inverted  over  burning  coals  of  some  hard  wood, 
such  as  oak  or  hickory,  piled  up  so  as  to  fill  as  nearly 
as  possible  the  whole  interior.  In  the  manner  last 
mentioned  was  the  baking  process  often  conducted, 
the  bed  of  coals  being  at  intervals  renewed  and  ar- 
ranged in  conical  form  so  as  to  distribute  the  heat 
equally  to  every  part  of  the  pot.  So  intense  at  times 
was  the  heat  employed,  that  the  vessel  glowed  and  a 
fusion  of  the  particles  on  the  inner  surface  occurred. 
When  sufficiently  baked,  the  vessel  was  allowed  to 
cool  gradually,  in  its  hardened  condition  permanently 
retaining  the  impressions  which  had  at  first  been  made 
upon  its  plastic  form. 

Upon  the  manufacture  of  the  ordinary  cooking  and 
domestic  utensils  comparatively  little  labor  was  ex- 
pended. They  were,  however,  substantially  made,  and 
answered  well,  both  in  shape  and  durability,  the  wants 
of  this  primitive  period.  From  some  of  the  sepulchral 
tumuli  and  refuse-piles,  plates  of  baked  clay,  usually 
about  six  inches  long,  four  inches  wide,  and  half  an  inch 
thick,  have  been  taken.  They  were  used  either  as  plates 
or  rude  baking-pans.  Clay  pans,  with  numerous  holes 
pierced  through  their  bottoms,  thereby  converting  them 
into  convenient  strainers,  have  also  been  found. 

In  Cherokee  Georgia  and  Alabama  frequent  use 
was  made  of  pot-stone  or  soapstone  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  vessels  of  the  largest  size.  Some  of  this  kind 
have  been  exhumed  fully  three  feet  in  diameter  and 
eighteen  inches  deep.  The  walls  were  an  inch  and 
upward  in  thickness.1 

1  Professor  Joseph  Jones  has  a  vessel  of  this  sort  in  his  collection,  weighing 
nearly  two  hundred  pounds ;  and  one;  was  exhumed  iu  Alabama,  large  enough  to 
permit  an  adult  to  sit  and  bathe  in  it. 


MANUFACTURE    OF    POTTERY.  401 

We  here  omit  a  description  of  images,  pipes,  beads, 
and  other  articles  of  clay,  as  they  have  been  noticed  in 
another  connection. 

As  the  methods  adopted  by  the  various  American 
nations  in  the  manufacture  of  their  earthen-ware  were 
probably  quite  similar,  in  addition  to  the  extracts 
already  given,  it  is  deemed  proper  to  present  the  fol- 
lowing accounts  by  eye-witnesses  as  throwing  addi- 
tional light  upon  this  subject. 

In  his  history  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  sev- 
eral Indian  tribes  west  of  the  Mississippi,  Hunter  ob- 
serves : '  "  In  manufacturing  their  pottery  for  cooking 
and  domestic  purposes,  they  collect  tough  clay,  beat  it 
into  powder,  temper  it  with  water,  and  then  spread  it 
over  blocks  of  wood  which  have  been  formed  into 
shajDes  to  suit  their  convenience  or  fancy.  When  suffi- 
ciently dried,  they  are  removed  from  the  moulds,  placed 
in  proper  situations  and  burned  to  a  hardness  suitable 
to  their  intended  uses.  Another  method  practised  by 
them  is  to  coat  the  inner  surface  of  baskets  made  of 
rushes  or  willows,  with  clay  to  any  required  thickness, 
and,  when  dry,  to  burn  them  as  above  described. 

"In  this  way  they  construct  large,  handsome,  and 
tolerably  durable  ware;  though  latterly,  with  such 
tribes  as  have  much  intercourse  with  the  whites,  it  is 
not  much  used,  because  of  the  substitution  of  cast-iron 
ware  in  its  stead. 

"  When  these  vessels  are  large,  as  is  the  case  for  the 
manufacture  of  sugar,  they  are  suspended  by  grape- 
vines, which,  wherever  exposed  to  the  fire,  are  con- 
stantly kept  covered  with  moist  clay. 

"  Sometimes,  however,  the  rims  are  made  strong  and 
project  a  little  inwardly,  quite  round  the  vessels,  so  as 

-      '  "Memoirs  of  a  Captivity,"  etc.,  p.  288.     London,  1828. 


462  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

to  admit  of  their  being  sustained  by  flattened  pieces 
of  wood,  slid  underneath  these  projections  and  extend- 
ing across  their  centres." 

The  Mandans  are  reported  by  Mr.  Catlin '  to  have 
fabricated  their  pottery  in  the  following  manner: 
"  Earthen  dishes  or  bowls  are  a  familiar  part  of  the 
culinary  furniture  of  every  Mandan  lodge,  and  are 
manufactured  by  the  women  of  this  tribe  in  great 
quantities,  and  modelled  into  a  thousand  forms  and 
tastes.  They  are  made  by  the  hands  of  the  women 
from  a  tough,  black  clay,  and  baked  in  kilns,  which 
are  made  for  the  purpose,  and  are  nearly  equal  in  hard- ; 
ness  to  our  own  manufacture  of  pottery ;  though  they 
have  not  yet  got  the  art  of  glazing,  which  would  be  to 
them  a  most  valuable  secret.  They  make  them  so 
strong  and  serviceable,  however,  that  they  hang  them 
over  the  fire  as  we  do  our  iron  pots,  and  boil  their 
meat  in  them  with  perfect  success.  I  have  seen  some 
few  specimens  of  such  manufacture,  which  have  been 
dug  up  in  Indian  mounds  and  tombs  in  the  Southern 
and  Middle  States,  placed  in  our  Eastern  museums, 
and  looked  upon  as  a  great  wonder,  when  here  this 
novelty  is  at  once  done  away  with,  and  the  whole  mys- 
tery ;  where  women  can  be  seen  handling  and  using 
them  by  hundreds,  and  they  can  be  seen  every  day  in 
the  summer  also,  moulding  them  into  many  fanciful 
forms  and  passing  them  through  the  kiln  where  they 
are  hardened." 

The  most  minute  account  is  that  furnished  by 
Dumont,  who,  in  describing  the  customs  of  the  Louisi- 
ana Indians,  states  that,  "after  having  amassed  the 
proper  kind  of  clay  and  carefully  cleaned  it,  the  Indian 

1  "  Illustrations  of  the  Manners,  Customs,  and  Conditions  of  the  North  Amer- 
ican Indians,"  etc.,  vol.  i.,  p.  116.     London,  1848. 


MANUFACTURE    OF   POTTERY.  463 

women  take  shells  which  they  pound  and  reduce  to  a 
fine  powder;  they  mix  this  powder  with  the  clay,  and 
having  poured  some  water  on  the  mass,  they  knead  it 
with  their  hands  and  feet  and  make  it  into  a  paste,  of 
which  they  form  rolls,  six  or  .seven  feet  long,  and  of  a 
thickness  suitable  to  their  purpose.  If  they  intend 
to  fashion  a  plate  or  a  vase,  they  take  hold  of  one  of 
these  rolls  by  the  end,  and,  fixing  here  with  the  thumb 
of  the  left  hand  the  centre  of  the  vessel  they  are  about 
to  make,  they  turn  the  roll  with  astonishing  quickness 
around  this  centre,  describing  a  spiral  line ;  now  and 
then  they  dip  their  fingers  into  water  and  smooth  with 
the  right  hand  the  inner  and  outer  surface  of  the  vase 
they  intend  to  fashion,  which  would  become  ruffled  or 
undulated  without  that  manipulation.  In  this  manner 
they  make  all  sorts  of  earthen  vessels,  plates,  dishes, 
bowls,  pots,  and  jars,  some  of  which  hold  from  forty 
to  fifty  pints.  The  burning  of  this  pottery  does  not 
cause  them  much  trouble.  Having  dried  it  in  the 
shade,  they  kindle  a  large  fire,  and,  when  they  have  a 
sufficient  quantity  of  embers,  they  clean  a  space  in  the 
middle  where  they  deposit  their  vessels  and  cover  them 
with  charcoal.  Thus  they  bake  their  earthen-ware, 
which  can  now  be  exposed  to  the  fire,  and  possesses  as 
much  durability  as  ours.  Its  solidity  is  doubtless  to 
be  attributed  to  the  pulverized  shells  which  the  women 
mix  with  the  clay?  x 

The  ceramic  art  is  no  longer  practised  by  the  Indian 
within  the  limits  of  Georgia.  Upon  the  removal  of 
the  Creeks  and  Cherokees,  the  last  representatives  of  the 
red  race  departed  from  the  beautiful  valleys,  the  noble 
mountains,  and  luxuriant  forests  of  this  Empire  State 


Dumont,  "  Memoires  Historiques  sur  la  Louishue,"  tome  ii.,  p.  271,  ct  seq. 


Palis,  175£ 


464  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

of  the  South.  Even  before  the  establishment  of  Ogle- 
thorpe's  colony  at  Savannah,  there  had  occurred  a  by  no 
means  partial  introduction  of  metallic  vessels  of  Euro- 
pean manufacture.  These  were  furnished  by  traders 
who  swarmed  into  the  Indian  country  from  Carolina 
and  the  Spanish  settlements  in  Florida.  Upon  the  gen- 
eral distribution  of  these  more  durable  utensils,  the 
fabrication  of  fictile  ware  gradually  subsided  and  was 
at  last  entirely  abandoned.  To  the  industry  and  skill 
of  the  Indian  women  of  those  early  days  are  we  mainly 
indebted  for  these  interesting  relics  of  the  past. 

Roguet '  advanced  the  idea  that  the  way  in  which 
pottery  came  to  be  made  was  this :  primitive  peoples 
at  first  daubed  with  clay  such  combustible  vessels  as 
cocoa-nut  shells,  to  protect  them  from  the  action  of  fire. 
It  was  found  before  long  that  the  clay  itself,  when 
hardened,  would  retain  its  shape  and  answer  the  pur- 
poses of  the  vessels  it  was  designed  to  enclose.  Thus 
the  idea  of  fictile  ware  was  conceived  and  from  time  to 
time  developed.  The  observations  of  Captain  Genne- 
ville  and  others  tend  to  corroborate  this  notion ;  and 
it  may  be  that  the  early  efforts  of  the  Southern  Indians 
in  the  ceramic  art  were  confined  to  covering  gourds 
with  clay  so  as  to  use  them  for  culinary  purposes. 

Although  calabashes  were  long  ago  abandoned  as 
unsuitable  for  heating  water  and  boiling  maize,  the 
shape  of  many  of  the  terra-cotta  vessels  of  an  antique 
type  would  seem  to  have  been  suggested  by  them. 

Aside  from  the  disintegrating  influences  of  time 

ft  o 

and  moisture,  the  casualties  of  use  and  accident,  the 
operation  of  inherent  decay  and  the  wanton  destruction 
of  many  of  these  frail  vessels  at  the  hands  of  the  care- 

1  See  Tylor's  "  Researches  into  the  Early  History  of  Mankind,"  etc.,  second 
edition,  p.  273.     London,  1870. 


CREMATION.  465 

less  and  the  unlearned,  the  Southern  Indians,  in  observ- 
ance of  a  custom  which  obtained  among  some  ancient 
tribes,  doomed  to  destruction  quantities  of  their  pot- 
tery. It  will  be  remembered  that  these  primitive 
peoples,  especially  along  the  coast  of  Georgia,  fre- 
quently burned  their  dead  and  with  them  food-vessels, 
drinking-cups,  pots,  flagons,  ornaments,  utensils,  and 
articles,  the  property  of  the  deceased.  The  practice 
of  reserving  the  skeletons  until  they  had  accumulated 
sufficiently  to  warrant  a  general  inhumation  was  main- 
tained among  the  Creeks,  the  Choctaws,  and  other 
Southern  nations  within  the  historic  period.  It  was 
no  easy  task,  as  we  have  already  observed,  for  the 
aborigines,  with  their  limited  means,  to  erect  a  tumu- 
lus. Hence,  by  an  arrangement  of  this  sort,  the  com- 
bined labors  of  the  many  could  be  secured  in  compass- 
ing the  elevation  of  grave-mounds  above  the  accumu- 
lated dead  of  village  or  tribe.  Possibly,  cremation 
was  resorted  to  in  order  that  the  toil  of  mound-buildins; 
might  be  diminished.  Cremation,  however,  was  by  no 
means  universal  even  in  districts  where  the  dead  were 
frequently  burned.  Why  these  funeral  customs  should 
have  thus  varied  in  prescribed  localities,  we  do  not 
fully  understand.  Compared  with  each  other  these 
sepulchral  tumuli  differ  materially  in  their  ages,  and 
we  can  only  repeat  what  we  have  already  suggested 
in  explanation,  that  in  the  history  of  the  nomadic 
peoples  who  for  centuries  possessed  this  region,  one 
wave  of  human  life  may  have  swept  over  the  other, 
each  perpetuating  its  peculiar  funeral-rites,  and  leaving 
in  silent  companionship  mound-tombs  similar  in  gen- 
eral aspect  and  yet  possessing  internal  indicia  which 
intimate  that  they  are  the  creations  of  different  hands, 


466  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

the  offspring  of  varying  customs — all  designed,  how- 
ever, to  honor  the  memory  of  the  departed. 

But  a  few  weeks  since  the  writer  opened  two  grave- 
mounds,  not  more  than  forty  yards  apart,  in  the  midst 
of  an  ancient  burial-ground  on  the  Georgia  coast.  In 
the  first,  the  skeletons  had  been  disposed  in  an  horizon- 
tal position  and  the  smell  of  fire  had  not  passed  upon 
them.  In  the  other,  after  having  been  collected  in  a 
circle  twenty  feet  in  diameter,  with  all  their  articles 
of  property  about  them,  the  dead,  to  the  number  of 
perhaps  thirty,  had  been  consumed  in  the  flames. 
Charred  fragments  of  wood  and  bone,  broken  pieces 
of  pottery,  cracked  stone  implements,  and  burnt  earth, 
abundantly  testified  how  complete  had  been  the  crema- 
tion. Here  was  a  total  demolition  of  numerous  clay 
vessels  owned  by  the  deceased  and  given  to  the  flames 
with  the  skeletons  prior  to  the  inhumation.  Bushels 
of  fragments  might  have  been  gathered,  but  not  a 
vessel  remained  in  its  entirety  to  reward  the  investi- 
gation. 

Upon  the  burning  irvpai  the  Greeks  cast  perfumes 
and  oils,  but  the  beautiful  vases  and  the  property  of 
the  deceased  were  claimed  by  the  living.  The  South- 
ern Indian  gave  to  one  common  funeral-flame  the 
skeleton,  and  all  the  possessions  of  the  departed. 


CHAPTER   XXI. 

The  Usg  of  Pearls  as  Ornaments  among  the  Southern  Indians. 

In  the  concession  made  by  the  King  of  Spain  to 
Hernando  de  Soto  of  the  government  of  Cuba  and 
conquest  of  Florida,  with  the  title  of  Adelantado,  one- 
fifth  of  all  the  gold  and  silver,  stones  and  pearls,  won 
in  battle  or  on  entering  towns,  or  obtained  by  barter 
with  the  Indians,  was  reserved  to  the  crown.  It  was 
further  stipulated  that  the  "gold  and  silver,  stones, 
pearls,  and  other  things  which  might  be  found  and 
taken  as  well  in  the  graves,  sepulchres,  ocues  or  temples 
of  the  Indians  as  in  other  places  where  they  were  ac- 
customed to  offer  sacrifices  to  idols,  or  in  other  con- 
cealed religious  precincts  or  buried  houses,  or  in  any 
other  public  place,"  should  be  equally  divided  between 
the  king  and  the  party  making  the  discovery. 

From  the  special  mention  made  of  them  in  this 
royal  reservation,  it  is  evident  that  among  the  valu- 
able trophies  of  the  expedition  precious  pearls  were 
confidently  anticipated.  That  the  Spaniards  were  not 
entirely  disappointed  in  this  expectation  the  early 
narratives  abundantly  testify.  These  relations  estab- 
lish the  fact — and  that  beyond  all  controversy — that 
the  use  of  the  pearl  as  an  ornament,  among  the  Indians 


468  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

of  Florida  and  of  the  South  was  by  no  means  infre- 
quent. A  reference  to  some  of  these  accounts — afford- 
ing as  they  do  the  earliest  information  we  possess  on 
this  subject — may  prove  interesting. 

Near  the  bay  of  Espiritu  Santo,  in  Florida,  the 
followers  of  De  Soto  chanced  upon  the  town  of  an  In- 
dian chief — Ucita,  by  name.  His  house  stood  near 
the  beach,  upon  an  artificial  mound.  At  the  other 
end  of  the  town  was  a  temple,  on  the  top  of  which 
perched  a  wooden  fowl  with  gilded  eyes.  Within 
these  eyes,  says  the  historian,  were  found  pearls  such 
as  the  Indians  greatly  value,  piercing  them  for  beads 
and  stringing  them  to  wear  about  their  necks  and 
wrists. 

When  the  Indian  queen  welcomed  the  Spanish 
adventurer  to  the  hospitalities  of  Cutifachiqui,  she 
drew  from  over  her  head  a  long  string  of  pearls,  and, 
throwing  it  around  his  neck,  exchanged  with  him 
gracious  words  of  friendship  and  courtesy.  Observing 
that  the  Christians  valued  these  pearls,  the  cacica  told 
the  governor  that  if  he  would  order  some  sepulchres, 
which  were  in  the  village,  to  be  searched  he  would 
find  many ;  and,  if  he  chose  to  send  to  those  which 
were  in  the  uninhabited  towns,  he  might  load  all  his 
horses  with  them.  The  Spaniards  did  examine  and 
rifle  of  their  contents  the  sepulchres  in  Cutifachiqui ; 
and,  upon  the  authority  of  the  Fidalgo  of  Elvas,  ob- 
tained from  them  three  hundred  and  fifty  pounds' 
weight  of  pearls — some  of  them  formed  after  the  sfmili- 
tude  of  babies  and  birds.  If  the  truth  were  known,  or 
if  an  Indian  had  penned  this  account,  we  would  be 
assured  that  De  Soto  and  his  companions,  in  their 
eager  quest  for  treasures,  without  permission  violated 
the  graves  and  plundered  the  receptacles  wherein  were 


PEARLS    AS    ORNAMENTS.  469 

garnered  the  most  costly  -possessions  of  the  natives. 
As  a  proof  that  the  Indians  did  not  willingly  part  with 
these  ornaments,  but  suffered  the  pillage  through  fear 
of  these  strange  and  wanton  men,  Ave  are  informed  that 
when  the  cacica,  whom  De  Soto  compelled  to  accom- 
pany him  with  the  intention  of  taking  her  to  Guaxule 
— the  farthest  limit  of  her  territory — succeeded  in  mak- 
ing her  escape,  she  was  careful  to  carry  back  with  her 
a  cane  box  tilled  with  unbored pearls,  the  most  precious 
of  them  all. 

Luys  Hernandez  de  Biedma  says  that  the  gov- 
ernor, while  at  this  town,  opened  a  mosque  in  which 
were  interred  the  chief  personages  of  that  country: 
"  From  it  we  took  a  quantity  of  pearls  of  the  weight 
of  as  many  as  six  arrobas  and  a  half,  or  seven,  though 
they  were  injured  from  lying  in  the  earth,  and  in  the 
adipose  substance  of  the  dead."  One  of  the  saddest 
losses,  in  the  estimation  of  the  relator,  encountered  by 
the  expedition  in  the  bloody  affair  at  Mauilla,  was  the 
destruction  of  the  pearls  which  the  Spaniards  had  been 
sedulously  collecting  during  their  wanderings  in  this 
strange  land. 

Fontaneda  states  that  at  the  place  where  Lucas 
Vasquez  went,  seed-pearls  were  found  in  certain  conchs ; 
and  that  between  Havalachi  and  Ola^ale  is  a  river  the 
Indians  call  Gruasaca-esqui,  which  means  in  the  Spanish 
language  Rio  de  Cartas  (river  of  canes).  In  this  river, 
which  is  an  arm  of  the  sea,  and  along  the  adjacent 
coast,  pearls  are  procured  from  certain  oysters  and 
conchs.  These  are  carried  to  all  the  provinces  and  vil- 
lages of  Florida,  but  principally  to  Tocobaja,  the  nearest 
town.  The  Indians  of  the  town  of  Abalachi  asserted 
that  the  Spaniards  hung  their  cacique  because  he 
would  not  give  them  a  string  of  large  pearls  which 


470  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIAN'S. 

lie  wore  around  his  neck — the  middle  pearl  being  as 
"big  as  the  egg  of  a  turtle-dove.  Ribault  frequently  al- 
ludes to  the  presence  of  pearls  in  the  possession  of  the 
natives  of  Florida,  and  on  one  occasion  saw  the  good- 
liest man  of  a  company  of  Indians  with  a  collar  of  gold 
and  silver  about  his  neck  from  which  depended  a  pearl 
"  as  great  as  an  acorn,  at  the  least."  ' 

Father  Hennepin 2  assures  us  that  the  Indians  along 
the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  wore  "  bracelets  and  ear- 
rings of  fine  pearls  which  they  spoilt,  having  nothing  to 
bore  them  with  but  fire."  He  adds :  "  They  made  us  to 
understand  that  they  have  them  in  exchange  for  their 
calumets  from  some  nations  inhabiting  the  coast  of  the 
great  lake  to  the  southward,  which  I  take  to  be  the 
Gulpli  of  Florida?  A  member  of  the  expedition  of 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh  collected  from  the  natives  of  Vir- 
ginia five  thousand  pearls,  "  of  which  number  he  chose  so 
many  as  made  a  fayre  chaine,  which  for  their  likenesse, 
and  vniformitie  in  roundnesse,  orientnesse  and  pide- 
nesse  of  many  excellent  colours,  with  equalitie  in  great- 
nesse,  were  verie  fayre  and  rare."  3  In  the  plates  illus- 
trative of  the  "  Admiranda  Narratio  "  and  the  "  Brevis 
Narratio"  the  natives  both  of  Virginia  and  Florida  are 
represented  in  the  possession  of  numerous  strings  of 
pearls  of  large  size;  and  in  his  description  of  the 
"  treasure  or  riches  "  of  the  Virginia  Indians,  Beverly 
says :  "  They  likewise  have  some  Pearl  amongst  them, 
and  formerly  had  many  more,  but  where  they  got  them 
is  uncertain,  except  they  found  'em  in  the  Oyster 
Banks  which  are  frequent  in  this  Country."  4 

1  "  The  Whole  and  True  Disco-verve  of  Terra  Florida."     Prynted  at  London  by 
Rowland  Hall  for  Thomas  Hackett,  1563. 

2  "New  Discovery,"  etc.,  p.  177.     London,  1698. 

3  "ABriefe  and  True  Report  of  the  New-found  Land  of  Virginia,"  etc.,  p.  11. 
Francoforti  ad  Moenum.     De  Bry,  anno  1590. 

4  "History  and  Present  State  of  Virginia,"  book  iii.,  p  59.     London,  1705. 


MANNER    OF    OBTAINING    PEARLS.  47l 

"Wilson  asserts  that  lie  saw  pearls  "  bigger  than 
Rouncival  Pease  and  perfectly  round,"  taken  from 
oysters  on  the  Carolina  coast.1 

By  far  the  most  minute  and  interesting  account  of 
the  manner  in  which  the  Indians  obtained  pearls  and 
converted  them  into  beads,  is  that  furnished  by  Gar- 
cilasso  de  la  Vega.  As  this  observation  was  made  in 
the  town  of  Ichiaha,  which  was  in  all  likelihood  located 
at  or  near  the  confluence  of  the  Etowah  and  Ooste- 
naula  Rivers,  and  perhaps  upon  the  very  spot  now 
occupied  by  the  village  of  Rome  in  Georgia,  the  narra- 
tive becomes  all  the  more  attractive : 

"On  the  following  day  the  Cacique  visited  the 
General,2  and  gave  him  a  string  of  pearls,  two  fathoms 
long.  This  present  might  have  been  considered  valu- 
able if  the  pearls  had  not  been  pierced,  for  they  were 
all  of  equal  size,  and  as  large  as  hazel-nuts.  Soto  ac- 
knowledged this  favor  by  presenting  the  Indian  with 
some  pieces  of  velvet  and  cloth,  which  were  highly  ap- 
preciated by  him.  He  then  made  inquiry  of  him  with 
regard  to  fishing  for  these  pearls,  upon  which  the 
Indian  replied  that  this  was  done  in  his  province  :  that 
a  great  many  pearls  were  stored  in  the  temple  of  the 
city  of  Ichiaha,  where  his  ancestors  were  buried,  and 
that  he  might  take  as  many  of  them  as  he  pleased. 
The  General  expressed  his  obligations,  but  observed 
that  he  would  remove  nothing  from  the  temple,  and 
that  he  had  accepted  his  present  only  to  please  him. 
He  desired  to  learn,  however,  in  what  manner  the 
pearls  were  extracted  from  the  shells.  The  Cacique' 
replied  he  would  send  out  people  to  fish  for  pearls  all 
night,  and  that  the  following  day  at  eight  o'clock"  (sic) 

1  "  An  Account  of  the  Province  of  Carolina,"  etc.,  p.  12.     London,  1G82. 

2  De  Soto. 


472  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

"  his  wish  should  be  gratified.  He  at  once  ordered  four ' 
boats  to  be  dispatched  for  pearl-fishing,  with  instruc- 
tions that  they  should  be  back  in  the  morning.  In 
the  mean  time  much  wood  was  burned  on  the  bank, 
producing  a  large  quantity  of  glowing  coals.  When 
the  canoes  returned,  the  shells  were  placed  on  the  hot 
coals,  and  they  opened  in  consequence  of  the  heat.  In 
the  very  first,  ten  or  twelve  pearls,  of  the  size  of  a  pea, 
were  found  and  handed  to  the  Cacique  and  the  Gen- 
eral, who  were  both  present.  They  found  them  very 
fine,  although  the  fire  had  partially  deprived  them  of 
their  lustre.  When  the  General  had  satisfied  his  curi- 
osity, he  retired  to  take  his  dinner.  While  thus  en- 
gaged a  soldier  came  in  who  told  him  that  in  eating 
some  of  the  oysters  "  (s*<?)  "  caught  by  the  Indians,  a 
pearl  ■  had  got  between  his  teeth,  which  pearl  being 
very  fine  and  brilliant,  he  begged  him  to  accept  as  a 
present  for  the  Governess  of  Cuba.2  Soto  very  civilly 
declined  the  present,  but  assured  the  soldier  that  he 
was  just  as  much  obliged  to  him  as  if  he  had  accepted 
his  gift ;  and  that  he  would  endeavor  to  reward  him 
some  day  for  his  kindness  and  for  the  regard  he  was 
exhibiting  for  his  wife.  He  further  advised  him  to 
keep  his  (intended)  present  and  to  buy  horses  with  it 
at  Havana,  The  Spaniards,  who  were  with  the  Gen- 
eral at  that  moment,  examined  the  soldier's  pearl,  and 
some,  who  professed  to  be  cormaisseurs  of  jewelry, 
thought  it  was  worth  four  hundred  ducats.  It  had 
lost  nothing  of  its  lustre,  as  fire  had  not  been  employed 
in  obtaining  it."  3 


1  Irving  speaks  of  fort}'. 

2  Dona  Isabel  de  Bobadilla,  De  Soto's  wife. 

3  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  "  Conquete  de  la  Floride,"  trad,  par  Richelet.     Leide, 
1731,   tome   i.,  livre   ii.,  chap,  i.,  p.  296,   et  seq.     See  also  living's  "Conquest 


ANECDOTE  OF  JUAN  TEERON.  473 

During  the  course  of  the  weary  march  of  the  expe- 
dition through  the  mountains  of  Upper  Georgia,  the 
following  circumstance  is  related  by  the  same  historian 
as  having  occurred : 

"  A  foot-soldier,  calling  to  a  horseman  who  was  his 
friend,  drew  forth  from  his  wallet  a  linen  Lao;  in  which 
were  six  pounds  of  pearls  probably  filched  from  one  of 
the  Indian  sepulchres.  These  he  offered  as  a  gift  to 
his  comrade,  being  heartily  tired  of  carrying  them  on 
his  back,  though  he  had  a  pair  of  broad  shoulders  ca- 
pable of  bearing  the  burden  of  a  mule.  The  horse- 
man refused  to  accept  so  thoughtless  an  offer.  '  Keep 
them  yourself,'  said  he,  '  you  have  most  need  of  them. 
The  Governor  intends  shortly  to  send  messengers  to 
Havana:  you  can  forward  these  presents  and  have 
them  sold,  and  three  or  four  horses  and  mares  pur- 
chased for  you  with  the  proceeds,  so  that  you  need  no 
longer  go  on  foot.'  Juan  Terron  was  piqued  at  hav- 
ing his  offer  refused.  '  Well,'  said  he,  '  if  you  will 
not  have  them,  I  swear  I  will  not  carry  them,  and  they 
shall  remain  here.'  So  saying,  he  untied  the  bag,  and 
whirling  around  as  if  he  were  sowing  seed,  scattered 
the  pearls  in  all  directions  among  the  thickets  and 
herbage.  Then  putting  up  the  bag  in  his  wallet,  as 
if  it  was  more  valuable  than  the  pearls,  he  marched 
on,  leaving  his  comrade  and  the  other  by-standers  as- 
tonished at  his  folly.  The  soldiers  made  a  hasty 
search  for  the  scattered  pearls  and  recovered  thirty  of 
them.  When  they  beheld  their  great  size  and  beauty 
— none  of  them  being  bored  or  discolored — they  la- 
mented that  so  many  of  them  had  been  lost :  for  the 
whole  would  have  sold  in  Spain  for  more  than  six 

of  Florida,"  chapter  li.,  p.  245,  et  seq.     See  also  Pickett's  "  History  of  Alabama," 
vol.  i.,  p.  11,  et  seq.     Charleston,  1851. 


474  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

thousand  ducats.  This  egregious  folly  gave  rise  to  a 
common  proverb  in  the  army  that  '  there  are  no  pearls 
for  Juan  Terron.'  The  poor  fellow  himself  became 
an  object  of  constant  jest  and  ridicule,  until  at  last, 
made  sensible  of  his  absurd  conduct,  he  implored 
them  never  to  banter  him  further  on  the  subject."  ' 

It  is  the  opinion  of  Colonel  Pickett  that  the  oyster 
alluded  to  by  Garcilasso  was  identical  with  the  mussel 
so  common  in  all  the  rivers  of  Alabama.  "  Heaps  of 
muscle-shells,"  says  he,  "  are  now  to  be  seen  on  our 
river-banks  where  the  Indians  used  to  live.  They 
were  much  used  by  the  ancient  Indians  for  some  pur- 
pose, and  old  warriors  have  informed  me  that  their 
ancestors  used  the  shells  to  temper  the  clay  with  which 
they  made  their  vessels.  But,  as  thousands  of  the 
shells  lie  banked  up — some  deep  in  the  ground — 
we  may  also  suppose  that  the  Indians  in  De  Soto's 
time,  everywhere  in  Alabama,  obtained  pearls  from 
them.  There  can  be  no  doubt  about  the  quantity 
of  pearls  found  in  this  State  and  Georgia  in  1540, 
but  they  were  of  a  coarser  and  less  valuable  kind  than 
the  Spaniards  supposed.  The  Indians  used  to  per- 
forate them  with  a  heated  copper  spindle,  and  string 
them  around  their  necks  and  arms  like  beads." 9 

Strange  to  say,  Cabeca  de  Vaca  makes  no  specific 
allusion  to  pearls,  save  that  he  was  informed  by  the 
natives  that  on  the  coast  of  the  South  Sea  there  ivere 
pearls  and  great  riches. 

At  the  time  of  the  Spanish  invasion  the  pearl,  as 
an  ornament,  was  held  in  high  esteem  by  the  Mexican 
peoples  ;  and,  upon  occasions  of  state,  its  beauties  were 

1  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  "  Conquete  de  la  Floride,"  trad,  par  Richelet.  Leide, 
1731,  tome  ei.,  livr  iv.,  chap,  xlx.,  p.  289,  et  seq.  See  also  Irving's  "  Conquest  of 
Florida,"  p.  239,  et  seq. 

2  Pickett's  "History  of  Alabama,"  vol.  i.,  p.  12,  note.   Charleston,  1851. 


PEARLS    AS    ORNAMENTS  475 

invoked  to  enhance  the  magnificence  of  the  apparel 
and  lend  additional  lustre  to  the  pomp  of  royalty. 
When  Montezuma  alighted  from  his  regal  palanquin, 
"  blazing  with  burnished  gold  "  and  overshadowed  by 
a  "  canopy  of  gaudy  feather- work  powdered  with  jewels 
and  fringed  with  silver,"  to  grant  personal  audience  to 
Cortez,  his  ample  cloak  and  golden-soled  sandals  were 
sprinkled  with  pearls  and  precious  stones. 

Morales  collected  large  booty  of  gold  and  pearls 
from  the  Indians  dwelling  on  the  other  side  of  the  isth- 
mus. The  vanquished  Cacique  of  Isla  Rica  brought 
as  a  peace-offering  a  basket  curiously  wrought  and 
filled  with  pearls  of  great  beauty.  Among  them  were 
two  of  extraordinary  size  and  value.  One  weighed 
twenty-five  carats.  The  other  was  as  "  big  as  a  musca- 
dine pear,  of  Oriental  color  and  lustre,  and  weighed 
upward  of  three  drachms." 

The  natives  of  Paria '  possessed  such  quantities  of 

1  "Before  the  Spanish  Conquest  this  was  a  smiling,  happy  coast,  vexed  occasion- 
ally by  Caribs,  but  otherwise  a  bright  spot  on  the  earth,  where  men,  without  mak- 
ing much  pretence  to  any  thing  that  is  elevated  in  human  nature,  lived  peaceably 
t  and  pleasantly  enough,  under  the  shade  of  their  own  cocoa-trees,  looking  out  upon 
some  of  the  grandest  aspects  of  Nature.  If  they  thought  at  all  about  the  matter, 
they  must  have  been  delighted  with  the  rich  supplies  of  food  which  they  obtained 
so  easily  from  their  oyster-beds.  But  the  diseases  of  a  creature  apparently  occu- 
pying a  low  place  in  the  scale  of  creation,  were  fated  to  be  the  means  of  dissolv- 
ing the  whole  of  Indian  society  in  these  parts,  and  of  reducing  large  districts  from 
a  state  of  cultivation  into  a  state  of  Nature,  so  that  it  is  only  conjectured  now 
by  the  skilful  naturalist,  founding  his  conjecture  upon  the  prevalence  of  some 
particular  flower,  that  they  were  once  cultivated. 

''  It  is  strange  that  this  little  glistening  bead,  the  pearl,  should  have  been  the 
cause  of  so  much  movement  in  the  world  as  it  has  been.  There  must  be  some- 
thing essentially  beautiful  in  it,  however,  for  it  has  been  dear  to  the  eyes  both  of 
civilized  and  of  uncivilized  people.  The  dark-haired  Roman  lady,  in  the  palmiest 
days  of  Rome,  cognizant  of  all  the  beautiful  productions  in  the  world,  valued  the 
pearl  as  highly  as  ever  did  the  simple  Indian  woman  ;  and  a  love  for  these  glis- 
tening beads  came  upon  the  Spaniards  from  two  quarters — from  the  Romans  who 
had  colonized  them,  and  from  the  Moors  they  had  conquered.  So  general,  indeed, 
was  the  love  for  pearls  that  it  was  to  be  expected  that  whatever  country  in  the 
wide  circuit  of  the  whole  world  was  cursed  with  an  abundance  of  pearl-producing 


47(5  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

tine  pearls  that  the  most  sanguine  anticipations  were 
awakened  in  the  breast  of  Columbus.  Remembering 
the  assertion  of  Pliny  that  pearls  are  generated  from 
drops  of  dew  which  fall  into  the  mouths  of  oysters, 
he  deemed  no  place  so  propitious  as  this  coast  for  their 
growth  and  multiplication.  When  nearing  the  island 
of  Cnbagua  this  admiral,  as  Charlevoix  tells  us,  be- 
held a  number  of  Indians  fishing  for  pearls,  who,  at  the 
approach  of  the  strangers,  at  once  made  for  the  land. 
A  boat  being  sent  to  communicate  with  them,  one  of 
the  sailors  noticed  many  strings  of  pearls  around  the 
neck  of  a  female.  Having  a  plate  of  Valencia- ware — 
a  kind  of  porcelain  painted  and  varnished  with  gaudy 
colors — he  broke  it  and  presented  the  pieces  to  the 
Indian  woman,  who  gave  him  in  exchange  a  consider- 
able number  of  her  pearls.  These  he  carried  to  the 
admiral,  who  immediately  sent  persons  on  shore  well 
provided  with  Valencian  plates  and  hawk's-bells,  for 
which,  in  a  little  time,  he  procured  about  three  pounds' 
weight  of  pearls — some  of  which  were  of  very  large 
size,  and  were  sent  by  him,  afterward,  to  the  sover- 
eigns as  specimens.1 

To  Vasco  Nunez,  Ttimaco  gave  jewels  of  gold,  and 
two  hundred  pearls 2  of  great  size  and  beauty,  although 

oysters,  would  be  sure,  when  the  fact  was  discovered,  to  become  a  theatre  for 
displaying  the  rapacity  of  the  rest  of  mankind. 

"  The  perilous  nature,  however,  of  his  submarine  possessions  was  nob  yet  visible 
to  the  poor  innocent  Inlian  on  the  coast  of  Paria  or  Cumana  ;  and  it  was  with  child- 
ish delight  that  he  threw  the  strings  of  pearls  (strung  in  a  way  that  would  have 
driven  the  jewellers  of  Europe  wild  with  vexation)  on  the  smooth  brown  arm  or 
rich  brown  neck  of  his  beloved." — ("  Hie  Spanish  Conquest  in  America"  vol.  ii., 
p.  89.     London,  1855.) 

1  "  Life  and  Voyages  of  Cjlumbus,"  by  Washington  Irving,  vol.  ii.,  p.  123.    New 

York,  1849. 

*"*" — 2  Arthur  Helps  says  :  "Two  hundred  and  forty  large  pearls  were  presented  on 

this  occasion."     He  continues :    "  The  Spaniards  could  hardly  contain  their  joy. 

One  thing  alone  occurred  to  damp  it.     The  Indians,  not  knowing  better,  were  ac- 


PEAKL-DIVEES.  4?  7 

tliey  were  somewhat  discolored  in  consequence  of  the 
fact  that  the  oysters  from  which  they  were  taken  had 
been  opened  by  fire.  Observing  the  value  which  the 
Spaniards  set  upon  these  pearls,  the  cacique  sent  a 
number  of  his  men  to  fish  for  them.  Certain  of  the 
Indians  were  trained  from  their  youth  to  this  purpose, 
so  as  to  become  expert  divers  and  acquire  the  power 
of  remaining  a  long  time  beneath  the  water.  The 
largest  pearls  were  generally  found  in  the  deepest 
water,  sometimes  in  three  and  four  fathoms,  and  were 
sought  only  in  calm  weather.  The  smaller  pearls 
were  taken  at  the  depth  of  two  and  three  feet,  and  the 
oysters  containing  them  were  often  driven  in  quanti- 
ties on  the  beach  during  violent  storms.  The  party 
of  pearl-divers,  sent  by  the  cacique,  consisted  of  thirty 
Indians,  with  whom  Vasco  Nunez  sent  six  Spaniards 
as  eye-witnesses.  The  sea  was  so  furious  at  that 
stormy  season  that  the  divers  dare  not  venture  into 
the  deep  water.  Such  a  number  of  the  shell-fisb,  how- 
ever, had  been  driven  on  shore,  that  they  collected 
enough  to  yield  pearls  to  the  value  of  twelve  marks  of 
gold.  They  were  small,  but  exceedingly  beautiful, 
being  newly  taken  and  uninjured  by  fire.  Many  of 
these  shell-fish  and  their  pearls  were  selected  to  be 
sent  to  Spain  as  sj^ecimens.1 

Oviedo  commemorates  the  circumstance  that  this 
cacique,  Tuniaco,  subsequently  furnished  Vasco  Nunez 
with  a  canoe  of  state,  formed  from  the  trunk  of  an 
enormous  tree  and  managed  by  a  great  number  of  In- 

customed  to  open  oysters  by  means  of  fire  :  this  injured  the  color  of  the  pearl ; 
and,  accordingly,  the  Spaniards  diligently  taught  the  Indians  the  art  of  opening 
oysters  without  fire,  with  far  more  diligence,  indeed,  than  they  expended  in  teach- 
ing their  new  friends  any  point  of  Christian  doctrine."— ("  The  Spanish  Conquest 
in  America"  vol.  i.,  p.  366.     London,  1855.) 

'  Irving's  "  Life  and  Voyages  of  Columbus  and  his  Companions,"  vol.  iii.,  p. 

181.     New  York,  1849. 


478  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEKN   INDIANS. 

dians.  The  handles  of  the  paddles  were  inlaid  with 
small  pearls — a  fact  which  Vasco  Nunez  caused  his 
companions  to  testify  before  the  notary  that  it  might 
be  reported  to  the  sovereigns  as  a  proof  of  the  wealth 
of  this  newly-discovered  sea. 

In  another  bay  of  the  Pacific  coast  this  bold  navi- 
gator saw  groups  of  islands  abounding  with  pearls — 
many  of  them  as  large  as  a  man's  eye.  Davyd  Ingram, 
during  the  "  Land  Travels  "  of  himself  and  others  in  the 
years  1568  and  1569,  from  the  Rio  de  Minas  in  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  to  Cape  Breton  in  Acadia,  made  the 
following  observation :  "  There  is  in  some  of  those 
Countreys  great  abunduilce  of  Pearle,  for  in  every  Cot- 
tage he  founde  Pearle,  in  some  howse  a  quarte,  in 
some  a  pottell,  in  some  a  pecke,  more  or  lesse,  where  he 
did  see  some  as  great  as  an  Acorn,  and  Richard  Browne, 
one  of  his  Companyons,  founde  one  of  these  great 
Pearles  in  one  of  their  Canoes,  or  Boates,  wch  Pearle  he 
gaue  to  Mouns1*  Champaine,  whoe  toke  them  aboarde 
his  Shippe,  and  brought  them  to  Newhaven  in  ffruiice."  ' 

Without  multiplying  these  references,  we  think 
sufficient  historical  evidence  has  been  adduced  to  sat- 
isfy the  mind  of  the  candid  inquirer,  and  that  beyond 
all  reasonable  doubt,  that  pearls  were  in  general  use 
among  the  Southern  Indians  ;  that  the  choicest  of 
them  were  the  prized  ornaments  of  the  prominent  per- 
sonages of  the  tribes ;  that  the  fluviatile  mussels  of 
various  streams  were  constantly  and  extensively  col- 
lected and  opened  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  these 
gems,  which,' when  obtained,  were  often  pierced  by 
means  of  heated  copper  spindles  ;  that  the  marine 
shells  of  the  Atlantic,  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  of  the 

1  "  Documents  connected  with   the   nistory  of  South   Carolina,"   edited   by 
Plowden  Charles  Jennett  Weston,  p.  8.     London,  1856. 


PEARLS.  479 

Pacific,  yielded  generous  and  beautiful  tribute  to  the 
labor,  skill,  and  taste  of  numerous  and  well-trained 
pearl-divers ;  and  that  these  gems  were  found  not  only 
in  the  possession  of 'the  living,  but  also  in  large  quan- 
tities in  the  graves  of  chieftains  and  the  sepulchres  of 
the  undistinguished  dead.  We  are  assured,  moreover, 
of  the  eagerness  with  which  the  Spaniards  sought 
after  and  preserved  these  treasures;  and  more  than 
once  do  we  hear  expressions  of  disappointment  at  tbe 
discoloration  and  deterioration  of  the  pearls  caused  by 
the  action  of  fire,  and  their  having  been  pierced.  A 
present  of  pearls  from  the  caciques  to  the  conquerors 
was  an  earnest  token  of  consideration,  and  the  most 
acceptable  pledge  of  friendship.  It  may  be  that  the 
accounts  which  have  reached  us  from  the  pens  of  the 
historians  of  these  various  expeditions  and  voyages, 
are  somewhat  extravagant  with  regard  to  the  quantity 
and  size  of  the  pearls  seen  in  the  possession  of  the 
natives.  It  does  not  appear  that  many  gems  of  this 
sort  from  Florida,  Georgia,  and  Alabama,  ever  glad- 
dened the  eyes  and  enriched  the  coffers  of  the  home 
authorities,  or  graced  the  fair  necks  of  Spanish  beau- 
ties. Most  of  them  were  observed  and  left  amid  the 
wilds  of  the  Land  of  Flowers,  where  the  spring  of  per- 
petual youth  still  conceals  its  life-giving  waters  be- 
neath the  shades  of  an  untrodden  forest.  They  were 
found  and  lost  in  that  mythical  region  at  whose  upper 
end  rose  the  fabled  mountain  from  whose  side  flowed 
a  stream  of  molten  gold.  And  yet,  in  view  of  all  the 
recorded  observations,  and  in  the  light  of  subsequent 
investigations,  we  are  not  inclined  to  sympathize  with 
those  who  regard  with  equal  incredulity  the  story  of 
the  Abalachi  pearl,  and  the  tale  told  by  Sinbad  the 
sailor  of  the  vast  treasures  he  saw  in  the  valley  of 
diamonds. 


480  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEKN   INDIANS. 

With  all  due  allowance  for  the  scope  and  effect  of 
imagination,  and  a  tendency  to  exaggeration  highly 
developed  in  minds  naturally  alive  to  the  marvellous 
and  eager,  in  this  terra  incognita,  to  perpetuate  im- 
pressions, which,  when  recounted  at  home,  would  ex- 
cite the  cupidity  and  awaken  the  intense  interest  of  a 
people  already  familiar  with  the  riches  of  Peru  and 
Mexico  and  anxious  to  extend  the  hand  of  conquest 
over  other  regions  in  this  New  World,  there  is  in  the 
narratives  of  the  career  of  De  Soto,  and  in  kindred  re- 
lations, ample  proof  that  pearls  of  large  size  and  of 
considerable  value  were  in  the  possession  of  the 
Southern  Indians  during  the  sixteenth  century  ;  that 
their  attention  had  been  generally  directed  to  collect- 
ing margatiferous  shells ;  that  by  the  simple  ]>rocess 
of  heating  them  upon  a  bed  of  live  coals  they  extracted 
the  pearls  from  them ;  and  that  they  understood  the 
art  of  piercing  them  with  heated  copper  spindles  so 
that  they  might  be  strung  and  worn  as  ornaments 
around  the  neck^  wrists,  and  ankles. 

By  the  narrators  of  these  primal  recorded  inter- 
views between  Europeans  and  the  red-men  we  are 
informed  that  the  Indians  obtained  their  supplies  of 
pearls  both  from  marine  shells  and  from  fresh-water 
mussels.  Some  of  the  oysters  on  the  Georgia  and 
Florida  coast  are  margatiferous.  Many  of  them  con- 
tain seed-pearls.  On  sundry  occasions  specimens  have 
passed  under  the  writer's  observation  which  were 
symmetrical  in  shape,  as  large  as  pepper-corns,  and  not 
wanting  in  beauty.  Some  were  quite  big  enough  to 
have  been  perforated  in  the  rude  fashion  practised  by 
the  Indians.  They  were,  however,  of  a  milky  color 
and  opaque.  Neither  in  size  nor  quality  did  they 
answer  the  description  of  those  spoken  of  in  the  Span* 


PEARLS  FROM  MARINE  SHELLS.         481 

ish  narratives.  We  know  that  the  Indians  who  in- 
habited the  coast-regions  of  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida, 
Alabama,  and  the  more  southern  States,  subsisted  to  a 
large  extent  upon  oysters,  clams,  and  conchs.  This  fact 
is  to  this  day  attested  by  the  numerous  and  extensive 
kitchen-refuse  piles  and  shell-heaps  which  abound  upon 
the  islands,  along  the  headlands  and  upon  the  banks 
of  salt-water  creeks,  and  by  the  quantities  of  marine 
shells  which  were  used  as  coverings  for  many  of  the 
sepulchral  tumuli.  These  are  not  the  abraded  drift- 
shells  cast  upon  the  coast  by  the  action  of  the  waves, 
but  are  the  perfect,  uninjured  shells  from  which  the 
live  animals  had  been  artificially  removed.  Possess- 
ing that  passion  for  ornament  so  characteristic  of  all 
barbarous  tribes,  it  excites  no  surprise  that  the  Indians 
should,  as  they  opened  these  marine  shells,  have  care- 
fully watched  for  pearls,  and  that  from  out  the  vast 
numbers  consumed,  year  by  year,  quite  a  store  of  such 
gems  should  have  been  accumulated.  But,  if  the 
shores  of  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Florida  may  not  have 
afforded  specimens  of  the  larger  and  more  highly  prized 
pearls,  we  have  only  to  look  a  little  nearer  the  equator, 
and  we  will  find  pearl-bearing  localities  whose  treasures 
fully  gratified  the  taste  of  the  savage  and  excited  the- 
cupidity  of  the  civilized.  Pearls  could  have  been  here 
procured  which,  in  size  and  beauty,  would  corroborate 
the  statements  of  the  early  navigators  and  justify,  at 
least  to  a  large  extent,  the  seemingly  extravagant 
representations  of  the  strings  of  these  gems  encircling 
the  necks,  wrists,  and  ankles  in  the  oldest  representa- 
tions we  have  of  the  Southern  Indians.  In  support 
of  this  opinion  we  have  but  to  instance  the  trade  in 
pearls  which  sprung  up  at  an  early  period  with  the 


482  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

islet  of  Cubagua,  and  at  various  points  in  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico. 

Such  were  the  trade  relations  existing  between  the 
various  tribes  on  this  continent,  so  extensive  their  inter- 
change of  commodities,  so  general  the  office  of  runner 
or  primitive  merchantman,  and  so  adventurous,  in  their 
larger  canoes,  the  dwellers  along  the  coast-regions  of 
the  South,  it  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  pearls  from 
the  islands  and  lower  portions  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
and  even  from  the  Pacific  Ocean  may  have  found  their 
way  into  the  heart  of  Georgia  and  Florida  and  into 
more  northern  localities,  to  be  there  bartered  away  for 
skins  and  other  articles,  which,  in  their  turn,  would 
subserve  the  purposes  of  this  rude  exchange  of  values. 
If,  in  the  same  ancient  stone  grave  in  Nacoochee  Val- 
ley, we  find  a  cassis  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  a  copper 
axe  from  the  shores  of  Lake  Superior,  and  stone  imple- 
ments the  material  for  the  manufacture  of  which  was 
necessarily  obtained  at  no  inconsiderable  remove  from 
this  locality ;  if  in  the  study  of  American  archaeology 
we  encounter,  on  every  hand,  proofs  of  an  extensive 
and  varied  interchange  of  articles  for  use  and  orna- 
ment, and  the  concentration  in  the  ownership  of  a 
single  individual  of  utensils  and  implements  brought 
from  places  hundreds  of  miles  apart,  we  surely  do  not 
overstep  the  bounds  of  probability  when  we  suggest 
that  the  most  admirable  pearls  among  the  Southern 
Indians  once  living  within  the  present  geographical 
limits  of  the  United  States  were  obtained  from  marine 
shells  native  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  replies  of 
the  Indians  to  inquiries  addressed  to  them  on  this 
subject  by  Hennepin  and  others,  and  the  presence  in 
remote  localities  of  beads,  ornaments,  and  drinking- 
CUpS — all  made  of  marine  shells  and  conchs  to  this  day 


PEARLS    FROM   FLUVIATILE    SHELLS.  483 

peculiar  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico — confirm  the  truthful- 
ness of  the  suggestion. 

But  we  are  not  confined  to  marine  shells  as  the 
only  or  perhaps  the  chief  source  whence  the  Southern 
Indians  derived  most  of  their  pearls.  In  all  likelihood 
the  fluviatile  mussels  contributed  more  freely  than 
any  other  shells  to  the  gratification  of  the  ornament- 
loving  masses.  As  we  ascend  the  Southern  rivers  we 
observe,  at  various  prominent  points,  relic-beds  com- 
posed in  great  degree  of  the  fresh-water  shells  native 
to  the  streams.  It  is  hardly  an  exaggeration  to  assert 
that  no  prominent  stream  is  entirely  devoid  of  them. 
The  inland  lakes  of  Florida  afford  similar  evidences  of 
the  former  occupancy  of  their  shores  by  the  aborigines, 
and  even  some  ponds  in  Middle  Georgia  and  Alabama 
exhibit  along  their  banks  unmistakable  signs  of  an- 
cient refuse-piles  into  whose  composition  lacustrine 
shells  enter  largely. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  frequency  and  extent  of 
these  relic-beds  along  the  banks  of  the  rivers,  we  may 
instance  those  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Savannah 
River,  above  the  city  of  Augusta.  Only  one  need  be 
specifically  mentioned,  and  this  will  be  found  in  Colum- 
bia County,  near  the  confluence  of  Great  Kiokee  Creek 
and  the  Savannah  River.  Here,  opposite  a  succession 
of  rapids  in  the  river — a  locality  which  would  have 
afforded  marked  facilities  for  successful  fishing  in  the 
manner  adopted  by  the  Indians  of  this  region — upon  a 
bold  bluff  is  an  accumulation  of  fresh-water  shells 
covering  the  surface  of  the  ground  to  a  depth  varying 
from  two  to  four  feet,  and  extending  nearly  one  hun- 
dred yards  in  length,  and  more  than  a  quarter  of  that 
distance  in  width.  Intermingled  with  them  may  still 
be  found  the  bones  of  large  fishes,  deer,  turkeys,  rac- 


4S4  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS.       , 

coons,  bears,  "bison,  turtles,  squirrels,  rabbits,  and  other 
animals  and  birds,  and  also  fragments  of  pottery,  ar- 
row and  spear  points,  soapstone  net-sinkers,  crushing- 
stones,  axes,  chisels,  rude  mortars  and  other  imple- 
ments, and  various  ornaments  of  clay  and  soap-stone. 
Here,  then,  was  one  of  the  favorite  camping-grounds 
of  the  Indians.  Hither  they  resorted  for  centuries, 
feeding  upon  fish,  mussels,  and  game.  This  is  but  one 
of  many  extensive  refuse-heaps  of  a  similar  charac- 
ter which  have  attracted  the  notice  of  the  writer 
along  the  banks  of  the  fresh- water  rivers  not  only  in 
Georgia,  but  also  in  Florida,  Carolina,  Alabama,  and 
Tennessee.  In  these  relic-beds  no  two  parts  of  the 
same  shell  are,  as  a  general  rule,  found  in  juxtaposition. 
The  hino-e  is  broken,  and  the  valves  of  the  shell,  after 
having  been  artificially  torn  asunder,  seem  to  have 
been  carelessly  cast  aside  and  allowed  to  accumulate 
at  the  very  doors  of  the  lodges,  where,  mixed  with  the 
debris  of  the  encampment,  in  the  course  of  time  they 
became  heaped  up  to  such  an  extent  as  to  form  these 
large  shell-banks.  In  these  early  days  the  Southern 
rivers  must  have  abounded  with  mussels.  Their  shells 
were  sometimes  used  (as  were  the  oyster,  the  conch, 
and  the  clam  along  the  coast)  in  the  construction  of 
burial-mounds.  Take,  for  example,  that  large  tumulus 
located  on  Stalling' s  Island,  in  the  Savannah  River,  a 
few  miles  above  Augusta,  a  description  of  which  has 
already  been  presented.  The  river  unios  enter  largely 
into  its  composition.  The  clay  of  which  the  Indians 
made  their  pottery  was  not  infrequently  mixed  with  par- 
ticles of  shells  powdered  for  that  purpose.  It  is  also 
true  that  at  least  some  of  their  shell  ornaments  were 
fashioned  from  the  larger  varieties  of  fluviatile  shells 
found  in  the  neighborhood.     Evidently,  therefore,  the 


PEARL-BEARING    SHELLS.  485 

collection  of  fresh-water  mussels  must  have  occupied 
no  little  of  the  time  and  labor  of  the  natives.  That 
they  subsisted  largely,  at  certain  seasons,  upon  them, 
as  an  article  of  food,  admits  of  no  doubt.  Not  a  few 
of  the  imios  of  the  Southern  rivers,  lakes,  and  swamps, 
are  margatiferous.  From  the  physical  proofs  enumer- 
ated— aside  from  all  historical  testimony — where  such 
quantities  of  shells  were  collected  and  opened,  we  may 
well  believe  that  many  pearls  must  have  been  found, 
and  we  incline  the  more  readily  to  give  credence  to  the 
statements  of  the  Fidalgo  of  Elvas  and  the  narrative 
of  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega.  If  it  be  true — as  some  have 
supposed — that  the  town  of  Cutifachiqui  was  located  on 
the  Savannah  River,  not  very  inany  miles  below  the  site 
at  present  occupied  by  the  city  of  Augusta,  and  if  De 
Soto  was  standing  on  the  bank  of  the  Etowah  when 
the  Cacique  of  Ichiaha  kindly  sent  his  men  to  gather 
the  mussels,  and  showed  him  how  pearls  were  extracted 
from  them,  we  still  have,  in  the  shell-heaps  extant 
upon  the  banks  of  these  streams,  physical  proofs  of 
these  ancient  pearl-fisheries  and  ocular  demonstrations 
of  the  verity  of  those  relations. 

With  a  view  to  ascertaining  the  precise  varieties  of 
shells  from  which  the  Southern  Indians  obtained  their 
pearls,  the  writer  invited  an  exj)ression  of  opinion 
from  several  gentlemen  of  intelligence  whose  scientific 
pursuits  rendered  them  familiar  with  the  conchology 
of  the  United  States.  The  following  extracts  from 
some  of  the  replies  which  were  received,  will  be  found 
interesting,  as  throwing  light  upon  the  inquiry : 

Dr.  William  Stimpson,  of  the  Chicago  Academy  of 
Sciences,  expresses  the  opinion  that  the  statements  of 
the  early  Spanish  historians  with  regard  to  the  size  of 
the  pearls  (as  large  as  filberts)  are  incorrect.    He  says : 


486  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEKN   INDIANS. 

"  The  pearls  of  the  aviculce — our  only  raargatiferous 
marine  genus — are  very  small,  and  those  of  the  oyster, 
valueless.  The  Indians  must  have  obtained  their  pearls 
from  the  fresh-water  bivalves  (unio  and  anodon), 
which  abound  in  the  rivers  of  Georgia,  etc.  These 
are  usually  small,  but,  in  very  rare  instances,  examples 
have  occurred  reaching  in  diameter  one-third  of  an 
inch." 

"  Most  of  the  fresh-water  mussels,"  writes  Professor 
Joseph  Le  Conte,  "  contain  small  pearls  now  and  then. 
By  far  the  best  and  largest  number  I  have  seen  were 
taken  from  the  Anodon  Gibbosa  (Lea),  a  large  and 
beautiful  shell  abundant  in  the  swamps  of  Liberty 
County,  Georgia — at  least  in  Bull-town  and  Alatamaha 
Swamps.  Some  of  the  pearls  taken  from  this  species 
are  as  large  as  swan-shot.  Of  the  salt-water  shells  I 
know  not  if  any  produce  pearls  except  the  oyster 
(Ostrea  Virginianct).  Pearls  of  small  size  are  sometimes 
found  in  them."  Professor  William  S.  Jones,  of  the 
University  of  Georgia,  says  he  has  seen  small  pearls  in 
many  of  the  unios  in  Southern  Georgia.  I  am  informed 
by  Professor  Wyrnan  that,  after  a  careful  and  extensive 
series  of  excavations  in  the  shell-heaps  of  Florida,  he 
has  failed  to  find  in  them  a  single  pearl.  "  It  is  hardly 
probable,"  he  remarks,  "  that  the  Spaniards  could  have 
been  mistaken  as  to  the  fact  of  the  ornaments  of  the 
Indians  being  pearls,  but  in  view  of  their  frequent 
exaggerations,  I  am  almost  compelled  to  the  belief  that 
there  was  some  mistake ;  and,  possibly,  they  may  not 
have  distinguished  between  the  pearls  and  the  shell 
beads,  some  of  which  would  correspond  with  the  size 
and  shape  of  the  pearls  mentioned  by  the  Spaniards." 

Professor  Joseph  Jones,  whose  recent  investigations 
have  thrown  much  valuable  light  upon  the  contents  of 


PEARL-BEARING    SHELLS.  487 

the  ancient  tumuli  of  Tennessee,  says :  "I  do  not  re- 
member finding  a  genuine  pearl  in  the  many  monnds 
which  I  opened  in  the  valleys  of  the  Tennessee,  the 
Cumberland,  the  Harpeth,  and  elsewhere.  Many  of 
the  pearls  described  by  the  Spaniards  were  probably 
little  else  than  polished  beads  cut  out  of  large  sea-shells 
and  from  the  thicker  portions  of  fresh-water  mussels, 
and  prepared  so  as  to  resemble  pearls.  I  have  ex- 
amined thousands  of  these,  and  they  all  present  a 
laminated  structure  as  if  carved  out  of  thick  shells  and 
sea-conchs." 

Mr.  Charles  M.  Wheatley  is  confident  that  there 
are  "  splendid  pearls  in  Southern  unios."  He  instances 
the  Unto  Blandingianus  and  the  large  old  Uhio  Bud- 
dianiis  (Buckleyi)  from  Lakes  George  and  Monroe  in 
Florida,  as  pearl  bearing.  "  In  Georgia,"  he  continues, 
"  the  large,  thick  shells  of  the  Chattahoochee,  such  as 
the  TJnio  Elliottii,  would  be  the  most  likely  to  contain 
fine  ones ;  but  there  is  no  positive  rule,  as  an  injured 
shell  of  any  species  will  doubtless  afford  some:  ir- 
regulai\in  most  cases  and  of  no  value,  but  in  some  in- 
stances worth  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  dollars."  He 
mentions  that  he  has  received  from  the  Tennessee 
Kiver,  in  Alabama,  fine  round  pearls  both  white  and 
rose-colored. 

From  the  response  of  Mr.  John  G.  Anthony  I  ex- 
tract the  following :  "  I  cannot  so  well  answer  your 
query  as  to  what  shells  in  Georgia  and  Florida  are 
pearl-bearers,  having  never  collected  in  the  latter  State 
and  but  little  in  Georgia,  but  I  can  say  about  Ohio 
what  I  presume  will  hold  good  in  other  States,  that  the 
unios  of  various  species  furnish  them  tolerably  abun- 
dantly there.  They  are  not  confined  to  any  one  par- 
ticular species,  but  are  generally  found  in  the  thicker 


488  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

and  more  ponderous  shells,  though  even  the  thinner 
shells  often  have  small  ones,  especially  such  species  as 
are  found  in  canals,  ponds,  and  places  which  seem  to 
"be  not  so  healthy  for  the  animal  on  account  of  stag- 
nant water.  I  recollect  taking  over  twenty  small  ones 
out  of  the  mantle  of  one  specimen  of  Unio  Fragilis 
(Rafinesque),  Unio  Gracilis  (Barnes),  which  I  found  in 
the  Miami  canal ;  and  almost  every  old  shell  there  had 
more  or  fewer  pearls  in  it.  Unio  Torsus  (Rafinesque), 
Unio  Orbiculatus  (Hildreth),  and  Unio  Costatus  (Ra- 
finesque), Unio  Undulatus  (Barnes),  also  produce 
them  in  Ohio.  I  have  seen  about  half  a  pint  of  beau- 
tiful pearls,  regularly  formed  and  pea-size,  which  were 
taken  in  one  season  and  in  one  neighborhood ;  so  you 
may  judge  of  their  frequency,  though,  as  I  hinted  be- 
fore, it  is  probable  that  a  kind  of  disease  caused  by 
impure  water  may  govern  their  production  somewhat. 
No  doubt  the  Southern  waters  are  given  to  making 
pearls  as  well  as  Ohio  streams.  I  have  seen  protuber- 
ances of  the  pearl  character  in  Southern  shells,  and 
have  no  doubt  that  one  collecting  them  with  .the  ani- 
mal in  them  would  find  pearls.  I  particularly  recol- 
lect Unio  Globulus  (Say),  and  Unio  Mortoni  (Conrad) 
— both  Louisiana  species — as  having  these  protuber- 
ances in  their  nacreous  matter,  Georgia  unios  are 
generally  too  thin  to  produce  any  excess  of  pearly 
matter  and  form  pearls,  but  the  Louisiana  shells  from 
Bayou  Teche,  which  I  have  seen,  have  a  remarkably 
pearly  nacre,  quite  thick,  reminding  one  very  much  of 
the  marine  shell  Trigonia,  as  to  nacre.  No  doubt  the 
bayous,  which  have  in  general  no  current  at  all,  would 
make  first-rate  places  for  pearl-breeding." 

Dr.    Brinton   observed  many  artificial  shell-heaps 
alone:  the  Tennessee  River  and  its  tributaries.      The 


PEARL-BEARING    SHELLS.  489 

Tennessee  mussel  (  Vnio  Virginianus)  isniargatiferous, 
"and  there  is  no  doubt,"  says  the  Doctor,  "but  that 
it  was  from  this  species  that  the  early  tribes  obtained 
the  hoards  of  pearls  which  the  historians  of  De  Soto's 
exploration  estimated  by  bushels,  and  which  were  so 
much  prized  as  ornaments."  l 

Dr.  Kidder  has  recently  pointed  out  the  source 
whence  at  least  small  pearls  and  perhaps  some  fine 
specimens  could  have  been  obtained  by  the  Indians  of 
Florida,  and  in  considerable  quantities.  In  the  unto- 
nidw  of  some  of  the  fresh- water  lakes  of  that  State  he 
has  of  late  found  not  less  than  three  thousand  pearls 
— most  of  them  small,  but  many  large  enough  to  be 
perforated  and  worn  as  beads.  From  one  unio  he 
took  eighty-four  seed  pearls  ;  from  another  fifty,  from  a 
third  twenty,  and  from  several  ten  or  twelve  each. 
His  examinations  have  hitherto  been  chiefly  confined 
to  Lake  Griffin  and  its  vicinity.  He  proposes  soon, 
however,  to  open  the  shells  of  Lake  Okeechobee, 
which  are  larger,  and  there  hopes  to  find  pearls  of  su- 
perior size  and  quality.  It  is  said,  but  with  what 
truth  cannot  now  be  definitely  affirmed,  that  upon  one 
of  the  islands  in  this  lake  are  the  remains  of  an  old 
pearl-fishery. 

In  view  of  the  general  use  of  the  pearl  as  an  orna- 
ment by  the  Southern  Indians,  and  of  the  quantities 
of  lacustrine  and  fluviatile  shells  opened  by  them  in 
various  localities  whither  they  resorted  for  the  purpose 
of  fishing  and  feeding  upon  these  mussels,  it  seems 
singular  that  the  pearl  is  not  more  frequently  met  with 
in  the  relic-beds  and  sepulchral  tumuli  of  this  region. 
We  would  expect  to  find  them  also  in  the  refuse-piles, 
shell-heaps,  and  mounds  of  the  coast.  After  an  exami- 
ne Smithsonian  Report  for  1866,  p.  337. 


490  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

nation  of  several  fresh-water  shell-heaps  on  the  banks 
of  the  Savannah,  and  of  others  of  a  similar  character 
in  Alabama,  Florida,  and  South  Carolina,  and  after 
exploring  many  shell  and  earth  mounds,  particularly 
on  the  Georgia  coast,  the  writer  has  failed,  except  in  a 
few  instances,  to  find  pearls.  These  were  obtained 
chiefly  in  an  extensive  relic-bed  on  the  Savannah  River, 
about  twenty  miles  above  Augusta,  the  largest  being 
four-tenths  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  all  of  them 
blackened  by  fire.  It  is,  perhaps,  not  to  be  wondered 
at  that  many  of  the  smaller  earth-mounds  on  the 
Georgia  coast  do  not  contain  pearls,  because  at  the 
period  of  their  construction  the  custom  of  burning  the 
dead  appears  to  have  obtained  very  generally.  So 
intense  in  some  cases  were  the  fires  then  kindled,  that 
even  hard  stone  axes  and  arrow-points  were  splintered. 
Under  these  circumstances  it  may  be  that  the  pearls 
were  either  immediately  consumed  or  so  seriously  in- 
jured as  soon  to  crumble  out  of  sight.  Excluding  this 
class  of  tumuli  from  present  consideration,  and  cred- 
iting the  statements  of  the  Fidalgo  of  Elvas  and  of 
others  touching  the  large  quantities  of  pearls  found  in 
Indian  graves  in  the  sixteenth  century,  we  have  been 
somewhat  surprised  that  their  presence  has  not  been 
more  frequently  detected  in  relic-beds  and  tumuli  in 
this  region,  in  which  there  is  no  lack  of  shell-beads  and 
other  ornaments  made  of  the  same  material.  This  ap- 
parent absence  of  pearls  tends  in  some  measure  to  con- 
firm the  notion  of  those  who  entertain  the  belief  that 
by  the  imaginative  Spaniards  many  beads  and  orna- 
ments made  of  the  thicker  portions  of  marine  and  fluvi- 
atile  shells — carved,  perforated,  and  brilliant  with 
their  primal  coloring — were  rated  as  pearls.  The  au- 
thorities, however,  are  so  numerous  and  direct,  and 


PEAELS    FOUND    IN    GRAVE-MOUNDS.  491 

tlie  recent  examinations  into  the  contents  of  these 
tuinnli  and  relic-beds  have  been  so  partial,  that  for 
one  we  cannot  acquiesce,  except  to  a  qualified  extent, 
in  this  opinion.  Our  impression  is,  that  future  and 
more  minute  investigations  will  reveal  the  existence 
of  pearls,  in  various  localities  where  the  pearl-bearing 
mussels  were  collected,  and  where  general  inhumations 
occurred.  Perforated  pearls  have  been  found  in  an 
ancient  burial-ground,  located  near  the  bank  of  the 
Ogeechee  River,  in  Bryan  County,  Georgia  ;  and  I  am 
informed  by  the  Reverend  F.  R.  Goulding,  that  some 
twenty-five  years  ago,  just  after  a  heavy  freshet  in  the 
Oconee  River  which  had  laid  bare  many  Indian  graves 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  large  mounds  on  Poullain's 
plantation,  he  gathered  on  the  spot  fully  a  hundred 
pearls,  of  considerable  size,  some  pierced,  and  others 
unbored. 

From  the  "  altar  "  or  "  sacrificial "  mounds,  Messrs. 
Squier  and  Davis  took  a  large  number  of  pearl  beads. 
By  exposure  to  the  heat,  they  had  lost  their  brilliancy 
and  consequent  value  as  ornaments.  Most  of  them 
were  so  much  injured  that  they  crumbled  under  the 
touch.  The  following  is  the  account  given  of  them  in 
the  "  Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley : "  * 
"  The  peculiarities  of  their  form,  and  their  concentric 
lamellae,  joined  to  the  lingering  lustre  which  some  re- 
tain, place'  their  character  beyond  dispute.  Several 
hundreds  in  number,  and  not  far  from  a  quart  in  quan- 
tity, are  in  our  possession,  which  retain  their  structure 
sufiiciently  well  to  be  strung  and  handled.  The  largest 
of  these  measures  two  and  a  half  inches  in  circumfer- 
ence, or  upward  of  three-fourths  of  an  inch  in  diameter. 
They  are  of  all  intermediate  sizes,  down  to  one-fourth 

1  Pages  232  and  233,  vol.  i.,  "  Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowledge." 


492  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

of  an  inch  in  diameter.  Most  are  irregular  in  form,  or 
pear-shaped ;  yet  there  are  many  perfectly  round. 
They  have  been  obtained  from  separate  localities,  sev- 
eral miles  apart,  and  from  five  distinct  groups  of 
mounds.  Great  numbers  were  so  much  calcined,  that 
it  was  found  impossible  to  recover  them,  and  a  large 
number  crumbled  in  pieces  after  removal  from  the 
mounds.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  a  number 
of  quarts  of  pearls  were  originally  deposited  in  the 
mounds  referred  to  ;  probably  nearly  two  quarts  were 
contained  in  a  single  mound." 

Without  expressing  a  decided  opinion  as  to  the 
precise  locality  whence  these  pearls  were  derived,  it 
was  evidently  the  impression  of  Messrs.  Squier  and 
Davis  that  for  them  a  Southern  origin  should  be 
sought. 

From  this  examination  it  may,  we  think,  be  fairly 
concluded : 

First.  That  the  possession  by  the  Southern  Indians 
of  pearls,  bored  and  unbored,  at  the  time  of  primal 
intercourse  between  the  white  and  red  races,  is  clearly 
proven. 

Second.  That  the  use  by  the  Indians  of  such  orna- 
ments was  a  matter  not  of  recent,  but  of  long  standing. 

Third.  That  evidence  of  the  collection  and  employ- 
ment of  these  gems  was  furnished  not  only  by  the 
ownership  of  living  Indians,  but  also  by  the  large  and 
frequent  accumulations  found  in  the  graves  and  tumuli 
of  the  dead. 

Fourth.  That  near  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  upon 
the  Pacific  coast  lived  trained  divers  whose  occupation 
consisted  in  fishing  for  pearls. 

Fifth.  That,  in  view  of  the  trade-relations  existing 
between  the  various  American  tribes,  it  is  not  at  all 


PEARLS.  493 

unlikely  that  the  finer  specimens  of  pearls  worn  as 
ornaments  by  the  Indians  of.  Florida,  Georgia,  Ala- 
bama, Carolina,  Louisiana,  and  more  northern  localities, 
were  obtained  from  the  islands  and  shores  of  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  and  perhaps  even  from  the  Pacific  coast. 

Sixth.  That  the  fluviatile  shells  and  lacustrine 
unios  of  the  Southern  fresh- water  rivers  and  lakes  were 
extensively  gathered  and  opened  by  the  natives  both 
for  the  purposes  of  food  and  with  a  view  of  obtaining 
the  pearls  which  the}'  produced ;  and  that  from  this 
source  the  Indians  probably  secured  their  principal 
supply  of  common  pearls. 

Seventh.  That  pearls  from  both  marine  and  fresh- 
water shells  were  greatly  prized  as  ornaments  by  the 
aborigines,  whose  custom  it  was  to  perforate  them — 
usually  by  means  of  heated  copper  spindles — and  wear 
them  on  strings  around  the  neck,  wrists,  waist,  thighs, 
and  ankles. 

Eighth.  That  these  gems  were  of  such  quality  as  to 
excite  the  cupidity  of  the  early  voyagers,  and  attract 
the  marked  attention  of  the  various  expeditions. 

Ninth.  That  the  marine  shells  of  the  Gulf  of  Mex- 
ico and  of  some  portions  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
coasts,  as  well  as  the  unios  of  the  Southern  rivers  and 
lakes,  could  have  supplied  all  the  pearls  represented 
by  the  early  narratives  as  having  been  found  upon 
the  persons  and  in  the  temples  and  tumuli  of  the  na- 
tives. 

Tenth.  That  the  Spanish  accounts  of  the  quantity 
and  size  of  the  pearls  seen  in  possession  of  the  Indians 
during  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  while  they 
may  be  somewhat  exaggerated,  are  not,  in  the  maiu,  to 
be  regarded  as  unworthy  of  belief. 

Eleventh.  That  the  various  shell-heaps  along  the 


494  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE   SOUTHEEN   INDIANS. 

coast  and  upon  the  banks  of  Southern  streams,  as  well 
as  the  large  quantities  of  shells,  both  marine  and  fluvi- 
atile,  employed  in  the  construction  of  sepulchral  tumu- 
li, should  be  reckoned  as  proofs  of  the  general  truthful- 
ness of  those  narratives,  and  as  furnishing  indications 
of  the  local  sources  whence  large  numbers  of  pearls 
were  probably  derived. 

And,  lastly,  that,  in  all  likelihood,  a  careful  exam- 
ination of  these  shell  heaps  and  mounds  will,  even  at 
this  day,  disclose  the  presence  of  pearls. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

Primitive  Uses  of  Shells. — Shell-Money. — Shell  Ornaments. — Personal  Decorations. 
— Concluding  Observations. 

Among  the  many  relics  which,  escaping  the  disin- 
tegrating influences  of  time  and  inherent  decay,  bear 
present  testimony  to  the  fact  that  in  former  times  they 
answered  various  artificial  uses  and  were  freely  ex- 
changed in  traffic  among  the  Southern  Indians,  few 
are  more  widely  distributed  then  those  made  of  shell. 
Copper  from  the  prehistoric  mines  of  Lake  Superior, 
galena  from  beyond  the  Mississippi,  mica  from  distant 
hills,  silver  and  gold  in  small  quantities,  and  numer- 
ous worked  flints  and  stones,  are  found  in  localities  to 
which  they  should  be  utter  strangers  and  in  which 
their  presence  would  never  be  expected  but  for  the 
extensive  interchange  of  articles  which  obtained  among 
these  primitive  peoples.  To  the  coast  tribes  the  sea 
was  the  great  treasure-house  whence  were  derived 
abundant  supplies  with  which  they  might  constantly 
carry  on  a  trade  with  interior  nations,  and  from  them 
secure  coveted  products  of  the  mountains,  chi]^ped, 
rubbed,  or  beaten  into  well-known  and  desired  forms 
of  use  and  ornament.  In  the  preceding  chapter  we 
commented  at  some  length  upon  the  employment  of 


496  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

pearls  as  gems  for  personal  adornment  and  as  articles 
possessing  the  highest  commercial  value  among  the  red- 
men  of  the  South.  We  have  seen  how  diligently  they 
were  collected,  how  carefully  they  were  perforated 
with  heated  copper  spindles  so  that  they  could  "be 
worn  as  beads,  and  how  extensively  these  beautiful 
offerings  not  only  of  the  fresh- water  mussels,  but  also 
of  the  shells  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Southern 
seas,  were  distributed  among  tribes  remote  from  locali- 
ties whence  they  were  derived.  These  ornaments 
might  very  properly  be  considered  in  the  present  con- 
nection ;  but,  in  view  of  what  has  already  been  said 
on  this  subject,  any  further  notice  is  here  pretermitted. 
We  have  also  observed,  upon  an  examination  of  the 
frequent  and  large  refuse-piles,  that  the  coast  Indians 
and  those  dwelling  near  rivers  and  lakes,  relied  upon 
oysters,  mussels,  clams,  and  conchs,  as  important  arti- 
cles of  food. 

Although  the  labors  of  the  primitive  workers  in 
shell  were  chiefly  expended  upon  the  manufacture  of 
a  convenient  and  well-recognized  medium  of  exchange, 
and  the  preparation  of  various  ornaments,  in  the  do- 
mestic economy  of  the  natives  sundry  were  the  offices 
shells  were  made  to  perform.  Some  of  these  we  will 
briefly  enumerate : 

I.  They  were  employed  as  gouges,  chisels,  scrap- 
ers, and  knives. 

In  that  rude  period  when  men — almost  entirely  ig- 
norant of  the  use  of  metals — were  compelled  from  such 
objects  as  Nature  placed  within  their  reach  to  select 
those  materials  which  would  most  conveniently  supply 
their  mechanical  requirements,  the  ancient  artificers, 
avoiding  the  protracted  labor  necessary  for  the  conver- 
sion of  stone  fragments  into  implements  of  serviceable 


SHELL    SCEAPERS.  407 

shape,  found  in  the  strong  shells  of  the  ocean  and  in 
many  fluviatile  mussels  convenient  tools,  well  formed, 
edged,  and  ready  to  hand. 

In  plate  xii.  of  the  "Admiranda  Narratio,"  an 
Indian  is  represented  with  a  conch  busily  engaged  in 
scraping  away  the  charred  portions  of  the  interior  of 
a  canoe  which  is  being  hollowed  out  by  fire.  From 
the  part  of  the  canoe  upon  which  he  is  working  the 
fire  has  evidently  just  been  removed  by  his  assistant, 
who,  with  a  fan  in  one  hand  and  a  stick  in  the  other, 
is  kindling  a  flame  in  another  portion  of  the  trough- 
shaped  boat.  The  explanatory  note  informs  us  that 
by  means  of  shells  the  bark  was  removed  from  the 
trunk  destined  for  the  canoe  ("  tunc  cortice  conchis  qui- 
busdam  adempto"),  and  that,  after  it  had  been  hol- 
lowed out  by  fire,  its  interior,  with  the  aid  of  like  im- 
plements, was  scraped  and  rendered  smooth  ("  restincto 
igne  cochis  scabunt,  &  nouo  suscitato  igne  denuo  adu- 
runt,  atque  ita  deinceps  pergunt,  subincle  urentes  & 
scabentes  donee  cymba  necessariuni  alueum  nacta  sit.")  ' 

The  wooden  spades  and  mattocks  used  by  the  Flor- 
ida Indians  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  were  made 
"  with  certain  stones,  oyster-shells,  and  mussels,  where- 
with also  they  made  their  bows  and  small  lances,  and 
cut  and  polish  all  sorts  of  wood  that  they  employ 
about  their  buildings  and  necessary  use." 2 

Beverly3  asserts  that  before  the  English  supplied 
the  Virginia  Indians  with  metallic  tools,  their  knives 


1  "Admiranda  Narratio,"  etc.,  Francoforti  ad  Moenum.     De  Bry,  anno  1590. 

3  "  The  Whole  and  True  Discoverye  of  Terra  Florida,"  etc.,  "  written  in  French 
by  Captain  Ribaulde,  the  first  that  wholly  discovered  the  same,  and  now  newly 
set  forth  in  the  English  the  xxx.  of  May,  1563.  Frvnted  at  London  by  Rowland 
Hall,  for  Thomas  Hackett." 

3  "  History  and  Present  State  of  Virginia,"  book  iii.,  chap,  xiii.,  p.  60.  London , 
1705. 

3J 


498  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

consisted  either  of  sharpened  reeds  or  shells,  and  that 
with  these  and  sharp  stone-axes  "  bound  to  the  end 
of  a  stick  and  glued  in  with  turpentine,"  they  formed 
bows  of  locust-wood,  and  cut  and  notched  their  arrows. 

The  oyster-shell  was  employed  as  a  scraper  in 
dressing  hides.1 

Many  of  the  clam,  oyster  and  mussel  shells  of  the 
Southern  waters  were  well  adapted  to  the  uses  of 
scrapers  and  gouges ;  and  the  supply  of  such  natural 
tools  was  at  all  times  accessible,  and  limitless  in  quan- 
tity. So  common  were  they,  that  near  the  coast  they 
were  not  regarded  of  value  sufficient  to  warrant  their 
inhumation  with  the  dead. 

II.  As  Deinking-Cups. — The  use  of  certain  conchs 
as  drinking-cups  seems  to  have  been  general  among 
the  Southern  Indians.  When  the  Floridians,  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  would  deliberate  upon  grave  affairs, 
the  chief  men  were  wont  to  assemble  in  the  public 
place,  where,  upon  a  semicircular  wooden  bench,  they 
all  took  their  seats.  The  king  or  mico  appeared  also, 
and  occupied  his  place  in  the  centre,  where  was  a  seat 
elevated  above  the  rest.  At  his  command  certain 
women  prepared  the  casina.  Upon  a  given  signal 
from  the  cacique,  the  cup-bearer  offered  this  hot  decoc- 
tion in  a  capacious  shell  first  to  the  king,  and  then  to 
the  noted  personages  who  were  present,  each  drinking 
in  the  order  of  his  rank.8 

In  plate  xix.  of  the  "  Brevis  Narratio,"  widows,  in 
token  of  theii;  grief,  are  strewing  their  hair  upon  the 
graves  of  their  dead  husbands.     Upon  each  grave  are 

1  "Natural  History  of  North  Carolina,"  etc.,  Brickell,p.  365.  Dublin,  1737. 
Lawson's  "History  of  Carolina,"  etc.,  pp.  338,  339.     Raleigh  reprint,  1860. 

2  "  Turn  pocillator  primum  Regi  hoc  decoctum  calidum  in  capace  concha  praebet, 
deinde  (sic  imperante  Rege),  omnibus  alijs  ex  ordine,  in  ilia  ipsa  concha."  "Breris 
Nartatio,"  etc.,  plate  xxix.     Francoforti  ad  Moenura.     De  Bry,  anno  1591. 


SHELL    DRINKIXG-CUPS.  499 

seen  the  bow,  quiver,  spear,  and  shell  drinking-cup  of 
the  deceased.1  Upon  the  demise  of  a  king  or  priest, 
for  three  days  did  the  members  of  his  tribe  gather 
around  his  tomb  and  mourn  and  fast.  About  the  base 
of  the  tumulus  numerous  arrows  were  stuck  in  the 
ground,  while  upon  its  top  was  placed  the  shell  from 
which  he  was  accustomed  to  drink.2 

In  many  of  the  burial-mounds  of  Georgia  conchs 
are  found  which  were  doubtless  used  as  drinking-cups, 
and  placed  there  at  the  period  of  the  inhumation  in 
obedience  to  that  well-established  custom  which  sur- 
rounded the  dead  with  articles  of  value,  ornament,  and 
convenience,  that  there  should  be  no  lack  of  them  in 
the  spirit-land.  From  some  of  them  the  axes  have 
been  entirely  removed.  In  the  stone  graves  of  Nacoo- 
chee  Valley  more  than  one  cassis  flammea  was  seen. 
In  each  instance  the  interior  whorls  and  columellas, 
had  been  carefully  cut  away,  so  that  these  large  uni- 
valves formed  capacious  and  serviceable  vessels. 

Similar  relics  were  observed  by  Professor  Joseph 
Jones  in  the  stone  graves  of  Tennessee,  and  they  have 
been  found  in  ancient  tumuli  in  several  of  the  South- 
ern States.  Sometimes  these  shells  were,  at  great 
pains,  divided  longitudinally.  In  the  neighborhood  of 
the  coast  the  Pyrula  perversa  seems  to  have  been  the 
common  drinking-cup,  and,  in  its  natural  shape,  handily 
supplemented  the  calabashes  and  fictile  ware  in  minis- 
tering to  the  simple  wants  of  these  primitive  peoples. 
Mr.  Haywood 3  says  that  at  the  annual  feast  of  Har- 
vest  the   Southern   Indians    sent    to    those  of  their 

1  "  Maritorum  arma,  ccncbas  ex  quibus  bibcbant." 

2 "  Brcvis  Xarratio,"  plate  xl.  "Defuncto  aliquo  Rege  ejus  Provincial,  magna 
solemnitate  sepelitur  &  ejus  tumulo  crater,  e  quo  bibcre  solebat,  imponitur, 
defixis  circa  ipsum  tumulum  multis  sagittis." 

3  "Natural  and  Aboriginal  History  of  Tennessee,"  p.  156.    Nashville,  1S23 


500  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

number  who  were  sick  and  unable  to  participate  in 
tlie  solemnities  and  festivities  of  the  occasion,  old  con- 
secrated shells,  full  of  the  sanctified,  bitter  casina. 

III.  As  Spoons. — Clam  and  cockle  shells  were  ex- 
tensively used  in  this  way.  Generally  the  half-shell, 
in  its  natural  state,  sufficed ;  but,  in  many  instances,  a 
handle,  just  wide  enough  to  be  conveniently  grasped 
by  the  thumb  and  forefinger,  was  cut  in  the  side  near 
the  hinge.  In  this  way  hot  food  might  be  scooped  up 
without  bringing  the  fingers  in  contact  with  it. 

Lying  upon  the  mat  by  the  side  of  the  woman,  one 
of  these  shell  spoons  is  figured  in  plate  xvi.  of  the 
"Admiranda  Narratio." '  Such  shells  also  served  a 
s;ood  turn  in  scaling  fishes.  Iu  the  writer's  collection 
are  fine  specimens  taken  from  the  grave-mounds  of 
Tennessee. 

IV.  As  Agricultural  Implements.2 

V.  As  Battles. — These  were  made  of  the  shells  of 
the  land-tortoise,3  or  of  conchs  from  which  the  interior 
whorls  and  columellas  had  been  removed  and  pebbles, 
beans,  or  beads  placed  in  them.  By  means  of  deer-skin 
thongs  they  were  fastened  to  the  outside  of  the  legs. 
In  dancing,  every  saltatory  movement  was  accompa- 
nied by  a  corresponding  jingle,  and  thus  each  motion 
called  forth  a  certain  sort  of  rude  music. 

VI.  As  Beceptacles  or  Shrines  eor  Idols. — Dr. 
Troost  had  in  his  collection  a  large  cassis  flammea 
whose  interior  whorls  and  columella  had  been  entirely 
removed,  and  the  front  of  the  shell  opened  so  as  to 
permit  the  entrance  and  enshrining  of  a  small  image 

1  See  also  Beverly's  "  History  and  Present  State  of  Virginia,"  book  iii.,  chap, 
iv.,  p.  17.     London,  1705. 

2  Loskiel's  "North  American  Indians,"  pp.  66,  67.     London,  1794. 

3  Adair's  "  History  of  the  American  Indians,"  pp.  169,  170.     London,  1775. 


SHELL-MONEY.  501 

in  a  kneeling  posture.  That  idol  was  within  tlie  sliell 
when  it  was  ploughed  up,  and  is  figured  in  situ  on 
page  361  of  volume  i.  of  the  "Transactions  of  the 
American  Ethnological  Society.1' '  This  may  be  an 
exceptional  case,  but  it  is  well  authenticated  and  wor- 
thy of  specific  mention  in  this  connection. 

VII.  As  an  Element  of  Strength  and  Durability 
in  the  Manufacture  of  Earthen- ware. — For  this 
purpose  shells  were  reduced,  by  pounding,  to  a  fine 
powder  and  mixed  with  the  clay.  The  mass,  moist- 
ened with  water,  was  then  carefully  kneaded  and 
subsequently  formed  into  the  desired  vessel.  As  we 
have,  however,  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  an  examina- 
tion of  the  pottery  of  the  Southern  Indians  alluded  to 
this  use  of  shells,  we  refrain  from  further  comment. 

VIII.  As  Money. — Ignorant  of  the  relative  worth 
of  metals,  and,  in  the  manufacture  of  serviceable  and 
ornamental  articles,  treating  gold,  silver  and  copper 
simply  as  malleable  stones,  it  was  necessary  that  the 
Indians  in  the  interchange  of  various  commodities 
should  agree  upon  something  which  by  common  con- 
sent should  be  regarded  and  accepted  as  the  represent- 
ative of  fixed  values.  Accordingly,  they  selected  what 
is  now  generally  known  as  wampum,  or  shell-money. 
The  term  wampum  is  said  to  be  an  Algonkin2  word, 
signifying  white — such  being  the  prevailing  color  of 
the  beads.  The  ordinary  wampum  beads  3  are  cylin- 
drical in  shape,  varying  from  the  sixth  to  a  quarter  of 
an  inch  in  length  and  being  about  the  eighth  of  an 
inch  in  diameter.     They  are  of  two  varieties,  the  one 


1  Nun-  York,  1845. 

2  L  >skiel  asserts  it  to  be  an  Iroquois  word,  meaning  a  mussel.     "  History  of 
the  Mission  of  the  United  Brethren,"  etc.,  p.  26.     London,  1794. 

s  These  beads  are  variously  known  as  wampumpeagc,  wampeage,  pcagc,  wam- 
pum peak,  peak,  seawaii,  seawant,  ronoak,  etc.,  etc. 


502  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

white,  and  the  other  blue  or  purplish-black — the  latter 
being  the  more  valuable  (see  Figs.  1  and  2,  Plate 
XXX.). 

On  the  Virginia  coast,  as  we  are  informed  in  the 
"  Westover  Papers,"  the  species  of  conch-shell  is  found 
of  which  the  Indian  peak  is  made  :  "  The  extremities 
of  these  shells  are  blue,  the  rest  being  white,  so  that 
peak  of  both  these  colours  are  drilled  out  of  the  same 
shell,  serving  the  natives  both  for  ornament  and 
money,  and  are  esteemed  by  them  beyond  gold  and 
silver." 

Beverly1  thus  describes  what  he  quaintly  terms 
the  treasure  or  riches  of  the  Virginia  Indians :  "  The 
Indians  had  nothing  which  they  reckoned  Kiches 
before  the  English  went  among  them,  except  Peak, 
Poenoke,  and  such-like  trifles  made  out  of  the  Gunk 
Shell.  These  past  with  them  instead  of  Grold  and  Sil- 
ver, and  serv'd  them  both  for  Money  and  Ornament. 
It  was  the  English  alone  that  taught  them  first  to  put 
a  value  on  their  Skins  and  Furs,  and  to  make  a  Trade 
of  them. 

"  Peak  is  of  two  sorts,  or  rather  of  two  colours,  for 
both  are  made  of  one  Shell,  tho  of  different  parts ;  one 
is  a  dark  Purple  Cylinder,  and  the  other  a  white  ; 
they  are  both  made  in  size  and  figure  alike,  and  com- 
monly much  resembling  the  English  Buglas,  but  not 
so  transparent  nor  so  brittle.  They  are  wrought  as 
smooth  as  Glass,  being  one-third  of  an  inch  long,  and 
about  a  quarter,  diameter,  strung  by  a  hole  drilPd  thro 
the  center.  The  dark  colour  is  the  dearest,  and  dis- 
tinguish'd  by  the  name  of  Wampom  Peak.  The 
English  men  that  are  call'd  Indian  Traders  value  the 

1  "  History  ani  Present  State  of  Virginia,"  book  iii.,  chapter  xii.,  p.  58.     Lon- 
don, 1705. 


SPQ  QiQQO  S*  eS^  U^  O  ^>  Q>  ' 


gQa©@TOsaQO, 


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7  7  ?  9- 


©       ®      ©      ©,« 


/4AZ  PHOTO-UTHOGRAPWC CO  NY\  OSBORNES PfrOCESS 


SHELL-MOltEY.  503 

Wampom  Peak  at  eighteen  pence  per  Yard,  and  the 
white  Peak  at  nine  pence.  The  Indians  also  make 
Pipes  of  this,  two  or  three  inches  long,  and  thicker 
than  ordinary,  which  are  much  more  valuable.  They 
also  make  Puntees  of  the  same  Shell,  and  grind  them 
as  smooth  as  Peak  These  are  either  large,  like  an 
Oval  Bead,  and  drill'd  the  length  of  the  Oval,  or  else 
they  are  circular  and  flat,  almost  an  inch  over,  and  one 
third  of  an  inch  thick,  and  drill'd  edgeways.  Of  this 
Shell  they  also  make  round  Tablets  of  about  four 
inches  diameter,  which  they  polish  as  smooth  as  the 
other,  and  sometimes  they  etch  or  grave  thereon  Cir- 
cles, Stars,  a  Half-Moon,  or  any  other  figure  suitable  to 
their  fancy.  These  they  wear  instead  of  Medals  before 
or  behind  their  Neck,  and  use  the  Peak,  Pimtees,  and 
Pipes  for  Coronets,  Bracelets,  Belts,  or  long  Strings, 
hanging  down  before  the  Breast,  or  else  they  lace 
their  Garments  with  them,  and  adorn  their  Tama- 
haivlcs  and  every  other  thing  that  they  value. 

"  They  have  also  another  sort  which  is  as  current 
among  them,  but  of  far  less  value;  and  this  is  made  of 
the  Cockle  shell,  broke  into  small  bits  with  rough 
edges,  drill'd  through  in  the  same  manner  as  Beads, 
and  this  they  call  Poenoke,  and  use  it  as  the  Peak 

"  These  sorts  of  Money  have  their  rates  set  upon 
them  as  unalterable,  and  current  as  the  values  of  our 
Money  are. 

"  The  Indians  have  likewise  some  Pearl  amongst 
them,  and  formerly  had  many  more,  but  where  they 
got  them  is  uncertain,  except  they  found  'em  in  the 
Oyster  Banks,  which  are  frequent  in  this  Country." 

The  money  of  the  Carolina  Indians,  says  Lawson,1 
fi  "  is  of  different  sorts,  but  all  made  of  shells  which  are 

1  "History  of  Carolina,"  etc.,  p.  315.     Raleigh  reprint,  1860. 


504  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

found  on  the  coast  of  Carolina,  which  are  very  large 
and  hard  so  that  they  are  very  difficult  to  cut.  Some 
English  smiths  have  tried  to  drill  this  sort  of  shell- 
money,  and  thereby  thought  to  get  an  advantage ;  but 
it  proved  so  hard  that  nothing  could  be  gained.  They 
oftentimes  make  of  this  shell  a  sort  of  gorge,  which 
they  wear  about  their  neck  in  a  string ;  so  it  hangs  on 
their  collar,  whereon  sometimes  is  engraven  a  cross  or 
some  odd  sort  of  figure  which  comes  next  in  their 
fancy.  There  are  other  sorts  valued  at  a  doe  skin,  yet 
the  gorges  will  sometimes  sell  for  three  or  four  buck 
skins  ready  dressed.  There  be  others,  that  eight  of 
them  go  readily  for  a  doe  skin ;  but  the  general  and 
current  species  of  all  the  Indians  in  Carolina,  and,  I 
believe,  all  over  the  continent  as  far  as  the  Bay  of 
Mexico,  is  that  which  we  call  Peak  and  Ronoak  ;  but 
Peak  more  especially.  This  is  that  which  at  New 
York  they  call  wampum,  and  have  used  it  as  current 
money  amongst  the  inhabitants  for  a  great  many  years. 
This  is  what  many  writers  call  porcelan,  and  is  made 
in  New  York  in  great  quantities,  and  with  us  in  some 
measure.  Five  cubits  of  this  purchase  a  dressed  doe 
skin,  and  seven  or  eight  purchase  a  dressed  buck  skin. 
An  Englishman  could  not  afford  to  make  so  much  of 
this  wampum  for  five  or  ten  times  the  value ;  for  it  is 
made  out  of  a  vast  great  shell,  of  which  that  country 
affords  plenty;  where  it  is  ground  smaller  than  the 
small  end  of  a  tobacco  pipe,  or  a  large  wheat  straw. 
Four  or  five  of  these  make  an  inch,  and  every  one  is 
to  be  drilled  through,  and  made  as  smooth  as  glass, 
and  so  strung  as  beads  are,  and  a  cubit  of  the  Indian 
measure  contains  as  much  in  length  as  will  reach  from 
the  elbow  to  the  end  of  the  little  finger.  They  never 
stand  to  question  whether  it  is  a  tall  man  or  a  short 


SHELL-MONEY.  505 

man  that  measures  it ;  but  if  this  wampum  peak  be 
black  or  purple,  as  some  part  of  that  shell  is,  then  it 
is  twice  the  value.  This  the  Indians  grind  on  stones 
and  other  things  till  they  make  it  current,  but  the 
drilling  is  the  most  difficult  to  the  Englishmen,  which 
the  Indians  manage  with  a  nail  stuck  in  a  cane  or  reed. 
Thus  they  roll  it  continually  on  their  thighs  with  their 
right  hand,  .holding  the  bit  of  shell  with  their  left ;  so, 
in  time,  they  drill  a  hole  quite  through  it,  which  is  a 
very  tedious  work ;  but  especially  in  making  their 
ronoak,  four  of  which  will  scarce  make  one  length  of 
wampum.     The  Indians  are  a  people  that  never  value 

\^  their  time,  so  that  they  can  afford  to  make  them,  and 
never  need  to  fear  the  English  will  take  the  trade  out 
of  their  hands.  This  is  the  money  with  which  you 
may  buy  skins,  furs,  slaves,  or  any  thiug  the  Indians 
have ;  it  being  the  mammon  (as  our  money  is  to  us) 
that  entices  and  persuades  them  to  do  any  thing,  and 
part  with  every  thing  they  possess,  except  their  chil- 
dren for  -slaves.  As  for  their  wives,  they  are  often 
sold,  and  their  daughters  violated  for  it.  With  this 
they  buy  off  murders ;  and  whatsoever  a  man  can  do 
that  is  ill,  this  wampum  will  quit  him  of,  and  make 
him,  in  their  opinion,  good  and  virtuous,  though  never 
so  black  before."  ' 

Alluding  to  the  passion  of  the  Southern  Indians 
for  ornaments,  Adair 2  remarks :  "  Before  we  supplied 
them  with  our  European  beads,  they  had  great  quan- 
tities of  wampum   (the  Buccinum  of    the  ancients), 

%  made  out  of  conch-shell  by  rubbing  them  on  hard 
stones,  and  so  they  form  them  according  to  their  liking. 

1  Compare  Dr.  Brickell's  "Natural  History  of  North  Carolina,"  p.  337,  et  seq, 
Dublin,  1737. 

2  "History  of  the  American  Indians,"  etc.,  p.  170.     London,  1703. 


50G  ANTIQUITIES    OE   THE    SOUTHERN"   INDIAN'S. 

"  With  these  they  bought  and  sold  at  a  stated  cur- 
rent rate,  without  the  least  variation  for  circumstances 
either  of  time  or  place ;  and  now  they  will  hear  noth- 
ing patiently  of  loss  or  gain,  or  allow  us  to  heighten  the 
price  of  our  goods,  be  our  reasons  ever  so  strong,  or 
though  the  exigencies  and  changes  of  time  may  require 
it.  Formerly  four  deer-skins  was  the  price  of  a  large 
conch-shell  bead,  about  the  length  and  thickness  of  a 
man's  fore-finger ;  which  they  fixed  to  the  crown  of 
their  head  as  an  high  ornament — so  greatly  they 
valued  them.  Their  beads  bear  a  very  near  resem- 
blance to  ivory." 

When  Cabeca  de  Vaca  set  out  upon  his  trading  ex- 
pedition he  carried  with  him  from  the  Gulf  coast  "  cones 
and  other  pieces  of  sea-snail,  conches  used  for  cutting," 
and  "  sea-beads."  These  he  traded  away  to  the  Indians 
inhabiting  the  interior,  and  in  exchange  received  from 
them  and  brought  back  with  him  "  skins,  ochre  with 
which  they  rub  and  color  the  face,  hard  canes  of  which 
to  make  arrows,  sinews,  cement  and  flint  for  the  heads, 
and  tassels  of  the  hair  of  deer  that  by  dyeing  they  make 
red."  Wherever  he  journeyed,  while  thus  employed, 
he  received  fair  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  natives, 
who — to  use  his  own  language — "  gave  me  to  eat  out 
of  regard  to  my  commodities.  The  inhabitants  were 
pleased  when  they  saw  me,  and  I  had  brought  them 
what  they  wanted."  On  various  occasions  shell-beads 
were  offered  as  presents  by  the  Southern  Indians  to 
the  Spaniards.1  In  this  way  they  sought  to  propitiate 
their  powerful  invaders,  and  the  gift  was,  in  their  esti- 
mation, among  the  most  valuable  of  all  their  posses- 
sions.   Among  the  articles  regarded  as  "  great  riches  " 

1  "  Relation  of  Alvar  Nunez   Cabeca  de  Vaca,"  translated  by  Buckingham 
Smith,  pp.  85,  86,  145,  146,  150,  194.     New  York,  1871. 


SHELL-MONEY.  507 

by  the  inhabitants  of  Pacaha,  Biedrna  enumerates 
"  beads  made  of  sea-snails."  l 

This  shell-money  was  also  extensively  manufactured 
by  some  of  the  Northern  Indians,  and  for  a  consider- 
able time  circulated  freely  in  the  New-England  colo- 
nies, in  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  elsewhere.  Sev- 
eral interesting  accounts  of  the  value  and  use  of  this 
currency  in  that  region,  during  the  early  days  of  Euro- 
pean colonization  in  America,  have  been  preserved. 

The  New-England  Indians,  writes  Roger  Williams,2 
"  are  ignorant  of  Europe's  Coyne ;  yet  they  have  given 
a  name  to  ours,  and  call  it  Moneash  from  the  English 
Money.  Their  owne  is  of  two  sorts ;  one  white,  which 
they  make  of  the  stem  or  stocke  of  the  Periwincle, 
which  they  call  Meteauhok,  when  all  the  shell  is  broken 
off:  and  of  this  sort  six  of  their  small  Beads  (which 
they  make  with  holes  to  string  the  bracelets)  are  cur- 
rant with  the  English  for  a  peny.  The  second  is  black, 
in  cling  to  blew,  which  is  made  of  the  shell  of  a  fish 
which  some  English  call  Hens,  Poquauhock,  and  of  this 
sort  three  make  an  English  peny.  They  that  live  upon 
the  Sea-side  generally  make  of  it,  and  as  many  make 
as  will. 

"  The  Indians  bring  downe  all  their  sorts  of  Furs 
which  they  take  in  the  Countrey,  both  to  the  Indians 
and  to  the  English  for  this  Indian  Money :  this  Money 
the  English,  French  and  Dutch  trade  to  the  Indians, 
six  hundred  miles  in  severall  parts  (North  and  South 
from  New  England)  for  their  Furres,  and  whatsoever 
they  stand  in  need  of  from  them,  as  Corne, Venison,  etc. 

"  This  one  fathom  of  this  their  stringed   money, 

1  "Narratives  of  the  Career  of  HernanJo  de  Soto,"  translated  by  Buckingham 
Smith,  p.  252.     New  York,  1866. 

2  "  A  Key  into  the  Language  of  America,"  etc.,  p.  144.     London,  1643. 


508  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

now  worth  of  the  English  but  five  shillings  (sometimes 
more)  some  few  yeeres  since  was  worth  nine  and  some- 
times ten  shillings  per  Fathome.  .  .  .  Their  white  they 
call  Wompam  (which  signifies  white)  ;  their  black 
SucMubock  (JSuchi  signifying  blacke).  .  .  .  Before 
ever  they  had  Awle-blades  from  Europe  they  made 
shift  to  bore  this  their  shell  money  with  stone,  and  so 
fell  their  trees  with  stone  set  in  a  wooden  staff,  and 
used  woden  bowesP 

The  money  of  the  Massachusetts  Indians  is  de- 
scribed by  the  Eev.  Cotton  Mather  as  consisting  of 
"little  beads  with  holes  in  them  to  string  them  ivpon 
a  bracelet,  whereof  some  are  white,  and  of  these  there 
go  six  for  a  penny.  Some  are  black  or  blue,  and  of 
these  go  three  for  a  penny.  This  wampum,  as  they 
call  it,  is  made  of  the  shell-fish  which  lies  upon  the  sea- 
coast  continually."  Nathaniel  Morton  '  intimates  that 
the  Plymouth  colony  first  acquired  a  distinct  knowl- 
edge of  the  value  and  profit  of  the  trade  in  ivampam- 
peag  from  the  Dutch  in  1627,  and  denounces  the  "  base- 
ness of  sundry  unworthy  persons  "  who,  in  exchange 
for  this  shell-money,  furnished  the  Indians  with  "guns, 
powder,  and  shot."  So  firm  a  hold,  however,  did  this 
wampum — as  a  standard  of  values  and  as  a  convenient 
medium  of  exchange — soon  take  upon  the  commercial 
mind  of  the  New-Englanders,  that  at  an  early  period 
it  was,  by  special  enactment,  treated  as  currency  and 
made  a  legal  tender  in  payment  of  debts  not  exceed- 
ing specified  amounts.  The  wampum-trade  was  also 
farmed  out  to  a  company  which,  for  the  privilege  of 
the  monopoly,  obligated  itself  to  pay  into  the  colonial 
treasury  of  Massachusetts  ©ne-twentieth  of  all  that 
was  secured. 

1  "New  England's  Memoriall,"  etc.,  p.  67.     Cambridge,  1669. 


SHELL-MONEY.  509 

In  his  "Account  of  two  Voyages  to  New  Eng- 
land1' Josselyn  asserts  that  the  natives  made  wam- 
pum so  cunningly  "  that  neither  Jew  nor  devil "  could 
counterfeit  it.  Subsequently,  however,  as  Mr.  Stevens  * 
properly  remarks,  this  proved  to  be  an  idle  boast,  for 
a  spurious  imitation,  very  closely  resembling  real 
wampum,  was  introduced  by  the  fur-traders  at  so  low 
a  price  that  the  whole  Indian  country  was  soon  flooded 
with  it,  destroying  at  once  the  value  and  meaning  of 
real  wampum. 

Bumaby,"  who  made  his  observations  in  1750  and 
1760,  describes  the  current  money  among  the  Indians 
as  "  made  of  the  clam-shell  consisting  within  of  two 
colours,  purple  and  white,  and  in  form  not  unlike  a 
thick  oyster-shell.  The  process  of  manufacture  is  very 
simple.  It  is  first  clipped  to  a  proper  size,  which  is 
that  of  a  small  oblong  parallelopiped,  then  drilled,  and 
afterwards  ground  to  a  round,  smooth  surface,  and  pol- 
ished. The  purple  wampum  is  much  more  valuable 
than  the  white — a  very  small  part  of  the  shell  being  of 
that  colour."  3 

Without  multiplying  authorities,  it  may  be  safely 
asserted  that  this  shell-money  was  manufactured  along 
the  Atlantic  coast  from  Maine  to  Florida,  and  on  the 
Gulf  coast  certainly  as  far  south  as  Central  America. 
The  use  of  this  circulating  medium  was  undoubtedly 
very  general  among  the  agricultural  tribes  east  of  the 
Mississippi  River.  The  ancient  sepulchral  tumuli  of 
Georgia,  Tennessee,  Florida,  and  of  other  Southern 
States,  as  well  as  those  located  in  the  valley  of  the 

1  "  Flint  Chips,"  etc.,  p.  458.     London,  1870. 

—  2  "  Travels  through  the  Middle  Settlements  in  North  America,"  etc.,  p.  60. 
London,  IV 75. 

__  3  Compare  Carver's  " Travels,"  etc.,  p.  362.  London,  1778.  Loskiel's  "His- 
tory." etc.,  p.  26.     London,  1794. 


510  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHEKN   INDIANS. 

Ohio  and  in  valleys  tributary  both  to  it  and  to  the 
Mississippi  from  the  east,  when  opened,  fully  corrobo- 
rate the  historical  narrative,  and  afford  physical  proof 
that  this^  product  of  the  skill  and  the  patience  of  the 
coast  tribes — sought  and  obtained  through  trade-rela- 
tions— was  thus,  and  by  means  of  subsequent  migra- 
tions, widely  disseminated  among  the  red-men  dwell- 
ing far  in  the  interior.  After  he  crossed  the  Missis- 
sippi, Mr.  Catlin l  saw  but  very  little  wampum  among 
the  prairie  Indians.  "  Amongst  the  numerous  tribes," 
he  states,  "  who  have  formerly  inhabited  the  Atlantic 
coast  and  that  part  of  the  country  which  now  consti- 
tutes the  principal  part  of  the  United  States,  wampum 
has  been  invariably  manufactured  and  highly  valued 
as  a  circulating  medium." 

West  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  however,  some  of 
the  tribes  "  make  use  of  various  coloured  shells,  around 
to  an  oval  or  nearly  round  shape."  Belts  of  wampum 
were  also  regarded  as  standards  of  value,  and  accord- 
ing to  these  standards  they  exchanged  property  among 
themselves  and  with  the  traders.2  Among  the  Indians 
of  the  Northwest  coast  the  Dentalium  formed  a  cur- 
rency.3 

Taking  the  place  of  money,  and  constituting  an 
acknowledged  medium  of  exchange,  these  wampum 
beads  served  also  as  favorite  and  valuable  decorations. 
Broad  belts,  variously  and  elaborately  ornamented  with 
such  beads,  were  delivered  at  one  time  as  title-deeds 
upon  the  alienation  of  a  tract  of  land,  at  another  time 
as  solemn  tokens  in  ratification  of  a  treaty  of  peace; 

1  "  Illustrations  of  the  Manners,  Customs,  and  Condition  of  the  North  Ameri- 
can Indians,"  vol.  i.,  p.  223,  note.     London,  1848. 

2  Hunter,  "  Memoirs  of  a  Captivity,"  etc.,  p.  294.     London,  1823. 

___  s  J.  K.  Lord,  "  Naturalist  in  British  Columbia,"  vol.  ii.,  pp.  25,  26.     Stevens' 
"Flint  Chips,"  p.  468,  d  seq.     London,  1870. 


SHELL    ORNAMENTS.  .511 

again,  as  pledges  of  friend  ship,  as  sacred  attestations  of 
an  uttered  vow,  and  as  records  of  memorable  events. 
In  the  latter  case,  each  string  of  beads  possessed  an 
historical  significance  and  was  as  intelligible  as  the 
knotted  cord  of  the  guipu. 

IX.  As  Ornaments. — While  the  shape  and  char- 
acteristic peculiarities  of  what  is  commonly  called  the 
wampum  bead  are  readily  recognized  and  clearly  de- 
fined, it  seems  probable,  at  least  among  the  Southern 
Indians,  that  all  the  various  forms  of  shell  beads,  pen- 
dants, and  ornaments,  were  highly  prized  both  for  per- 
sonal decoration  and  as  objects  of  barter.  Rarely 
have  I  seen  the  purple  or  black  wampum  within  the 
limits  of  Georgia,  while  hundreds  of  the  white  have 
been  taken  from  sepulchral  tumuli  in  various  portions 
of  the  State.  The  Southern  Indians,  without  doubt, 
expended  no  little  time  and  toil  in  the  manufacture  of 
these  shell  ornaments.  Consequently,  the  results  of 
their  taste  and  industry  are  numerous  and  interesting. 
Sharing  in  that  passion  for  personal  decoration  which, 
in  all  ages,  has  so  thoroughly  possessed  the  breasts  of 
both  civilized  and  savage,  they  found  in  the  j)early 
nacre  and  bright  colors  of  marine  and  nuviatile  shells 
the  choicest  material  for  the  fabrication  of  beads,  pen- 
dants, gorgets,,  armlets,  pins,  and  various  ornaments 
with  which  to  bedeck  their  persons  and  habits.  To 
these  ornaments  a  twofold  value  appertained — the  one 
inherent  in  the  intrinsic  beauty  and  durability  of  the 
shells  themselves,  the  other  born  of  the  skill,  ingenuity, 
and  labor  involved  in  their  manufacture.  Strings  '  of 
these  shining  and  carefully-polished  beads  adorned  the 
ears,   necks,    shoulders,  elbows,    arms,   knees,  ankles, 

1  "  Admiranda  Narratio,"  plates  Hi.,  vi.  vit.,  viii.,  xvi.,  xviii.,  xxi.     "  Brevis 
Narratio,"  plates  viii.,  xiv.,  xvi.,  xxxiv,  xxxvii.,  xxxviii.,  xxxix. 


512   .        ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

wrists,  waists,  and  robes  of  these  primitive  peoples, 
and  were  used  to  enhance  the  beauty,  dignity,  and 
riches  of  their  idols.  Both  males  and  females  delighted 
in  the  ownership  of  personal  ornaments ;  and,  when 
the  grave  opened  to  receive  those  who  claimed  them, 
these  prized  possessions  were  deposited  with  the  dead, 
that,  amid  the  well-watered  fields  of  fairer  hunting- 
grounds,  the  departed  might  not  lack  the  companion- 
ship of  those  things  which  j>leased  them  most  and  con- 
stituted their  chief  treasures  here.  Tumuli  and  oblit- 
erated graves  are  now  the  storehouses  whence  are  ob- 
tained supplies  of  these  ornaments.  Upon  most  of 
them  the  lapse  of  years,  fire,  and  the  moisture  of  the 
earth  have  wrought  sad  changes,  and  they  are  often 
but  crumbling,  discolored  mockeries  of  former  symme- 
try and  beauty. 

Dwelling  under  warm  skies,  which  permitted  them 
to  pass  the  greater  part  of  the  year  in  a  state  of  almost 
entire  nudity,  the  Southern  Indians  delighted  in  paint- 
ing their  bodies  with  the  most  brilliant  colors  they 
could  command.  Their  persons  being  uncovered,  the 
fullest  opportunity  was  afforded  not  only  for  the  dis- 
play of  skin  ornamentation  in  various  lines  and  curious 
devices,  but  also  for  the  exhibition  upon  any  part  of 
the  body  of  necklaces,  gorgets,  and  sundry  articles  of 
shell,  bone,  and  stone  jewelry,  if  indeed  that  word  may 
be  properly  used  to  describe  these  representatives  of 
barbaric  fancy.  Hence  the  taste  for  personal  decora- 
tion was  more  general  and  pronounced  among  them, 
than  among  their  more  northern  brethren,  whose  prin- 
cipal labor  in  this  regard  was  bestowed  upon  the  orna- 
mentation of  their  clothing. 

The  prevailing  varieties  of  the  shell  beads  found 
within  the  limits  of  Georgia  are  represented  in  Figs. 
14-19,  Plate  XXX. 


SHELL    BEAD>,  513 

With  the  exception  of  tlie  disk-shaped  beads,  all 
are  perforated  longitudinally,  the  diameters  of  the  bores 
varying  with  the  size  of  the  ornament — seldom,  how- 
ever, exceeding  a  quarter  of  an  inch.  Some  of  them 
are  perforated  both  longitudinally  and  transversely. 
It  is  evident  that,  at  the  period  of  their  manufacture, 
they  were  all  carefully  polished ;  and  while  many  have, 
with  the  lapse  of  years,  been  converted  into  a  soft, 
white,  chalky  substance,  others  still  retain  their  smooth 
surfaces,  and  in  their  present  appearance  closely  resem- 

■  ble   ivory,  for  which  substance  they  were  sometimes 
mistaken   by  the  early  observers.     The  column  and 

*  walls  of  the  Strombus  gig  as  were  freely  used  in  the 
construction  of  the  largest  of  these  beads,  not  a  few  of 
which  still  bear  the  trace  of  the  natural  canal.  Those 
of  the  elongated  shape  vary  in  length  from  a  quarter 
of  an  inch  to  two  inches  and  a  half,  and  in  diameter 
from  one-sixth  of  an  inch  to  one  inch.  The  disk-shajxd 
beads  vary  in  thickness  from  the  twelfth  to  the  sixth 
of  an  inch,  and  in  width  from  a  quarter  of  an  inch  to 
an  inch  and  a  quarter.  The  forms  varied  with  the  fan- 
cies of  the  manufacturers,  some  beads  being  round, 
others  ovoidal,  others  tubular,  and  others  still,  disk- 
shaped. 

Both  Adair '  and  Lawson 2  unite  in  stating  that  the 
natives  manufactured  these  beads  out  of  conch-slndl.-, 

^  and  formed  them  into  the  desired  shapes  by  rubbing 
them  on  hard  stones.     Before  the  introduction  of  me- 
tallic implements,  Roger  Williams2  says  the  Indians. 
"  made  shift  to  bore  this  their  shell  mom1)'  with  stone ; " 


1  "History  of  the  American  Indians,"'  etc.,  p.  1*70.     London,  1773. 
a  "  History  of  Carolina,"  p.  316.     Raleigh  reprint,  1860.     Brickell's  "  Natural 
History  of  North  Carolina,"  p.  339.     Dublin,  1737. 

'  "A  Key  into  the  Language  of  America,"  etc.,  p.  148.     London,  1643. 
33 


514  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

and,  during  the  progress  of  the  journey  of  Surveyor- 
General  Lawson,1  he  observed  the  Carolina  Indians 
drilling  their  beads  by  means  of  a  nail  stuck  in  the  end 
of  a  cane  or  reed.  The  drill  was  rolled  on  the  thigh 
with  the  right  hand — the  bit  of  shell  being  held  in  the 
left — and  so,  in  the  course  of  time,  after  the  expendi- 
ture of  much  patience,  the  perforation  was  accom- 
plished.  When  we  consider  the  amount  of  tedious 
labor  necessarily  involved  in  shaping,  boring,  and 
polishing  these  beads,  we  are  prepared  to  appreciate 
the  reason  why  they  came  to  be  regarded  by  the  na- 
tives among  their  most  precious  treasures.  It  is  not 
probable  that  the  heated  copper  spindles,  which  the 
Spanish  historians  declare  were  used  for  the  perfora- 
tion of  pearls,  could  have  proved  serviceable  in  punc- 
turing these  pieces  of  shell.  The  larger  beads  were 
drilled  from  opposite  ends,  the  perforation  being 
smaller  in  the  centre  than  at  the  inception  of  the  bore. 
There  is  no  reason  why  at  least  some  of  them  should 
not  have  been  drilled  in  the  manner  commonly  adopted 
for  boring  stone.  Either  a  solid  or  a  hollow  wooden 
drill,  aided  by  sharp  sand  and  water,  would  have  com- 
passed the  desired  object ;  and  in  the  case  of  the  dish- 
shaped,  round,^  and  ovoidal  beads,  a  drill  made  of  a 
triangularly-pointed  flint  flake  would  have  answered 
every  purpose. 

Among  the  Southern  Indians,  upon  the  authority 
of  Adair,2  in  former  times  "  a  large  conch-shell  bead 
^  about  the  length  and  thickness  of  a  man's  fore-finger 
would  purchase  four  deer  skins."  Beads  of  this  sort 
were  greatly  valued,  and  were  "  fixed  to  the  crown  of 
the  head  as  high  ornaments." 

1  "History  of  Carolina,"  p.  316.     Raleigh  reprint,  1860.  £ 

'     '  "History  of  American  Indians,"  etc.,  p.  170.     London,  177i  J 


"1 


SHELL  BEADS. SHELL  GORGETS.         515 

Du  Pratz  '  describes  the  ear-rings  of  tlie  Indian 
women  of  Louisiana  as  being  "  made  of  the  center 
part  of  a  large  shell,  called  burgo,  which  is  about  the 
thickness  of  one's  little  finger ; "  and  Father  Hennepin,3 
in  his  account  of  the  customs  of  the  natives  of  Louis- 
iana and  Mississippi,  states  that  "  Women  and  Men, 
but  above  all,  Young  Girls,  wear  Necklaces  of  Shells 
about  their  Necks,  of  different  Figures.  They  have 
also  a  sort  of  Shells  as  long  as  one's  Finger,  and  hol- 
low like  Pipes,  which  serve  them  for  Pendants  to  hang 
in  their  Ears." 

While  the  longer  varieties  served  as  pendants  and 
head-ornaments,  the  smaller  were  strung  and  worn  as 
necklaces,  bracelets,  anklets,  armlets,  or  used  as  deco- 
rations for  moccasins,  belts,  and  their  clothing  gener- 

)(  ally.  The  number  of  these  beads  found  in  a  single 
tumulus  is  surprising,  and  shows  how  many  of  them 
were  at  times  owned  by  one  individual.3 

In  obedience  to  the  taste  and  skill  of  the  Southern 
Indians,  the  shell  assumed  ornamental  shapes  other 
than   those   represented    by  the   beads.      Prominent 

^  among  them  are  the  gorgets — two  varieties  of  which 
are  here  represented  (see  Figs.  3  and  4,  Plate  XXX.). 
These,  suspended  by  a  string,  were  worn  about  the 
neck.  Lawson 4  alludes  to  the  existence  of  this  class 
of  ornaments  among  the  Carolina  Indians  in  his  day, 
and  comments  upon  the  high  commercial  esteem  in 
which  they  were  held.  He  also  calls  attention  to  the 
fact  that  thereon  was  sometimes  "  engraven  a  cross,  or 
some  odd  sort  of  figure   which  comes  next  in  their 

1  "  History  of  Louisiana,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  232.     London,  1763. 

2  "  Continuation  of  the  New  Discovery,"  etc.,  p.  80.     London,  1698. 

—  3  Compare  Roger  Williams'  "Key  into  the  Language  of  America,"  etc.,  p.  149- 
London, 1643. 

4  "History  of  Carolina,"  etc.,  p.  315.     Raleigh  reprint,  1860. 


516  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

fancy."  The  Southern  Indian  priest  wore  upon  his 
breast  an  ornament  "made  of  a  white  conch-shell 
with  two  holes  bored  in  the  middle  of  it,  through 
which  he  ran  the  ends  of  an  otter-skin  strap  and  fast- 
ened to  the  extremity  of  each  a  buck-horn  white  but- 
ton.1 The  natives  of  Virginia a  manufactured  round 
shell  "  Tablets  of  about  four  inches  diameter,"  which 
they  polished  as  smooth  as  their  peak,  and  upon  which 
they  etched  or  graved  "  Circles,  Stars,  a  Half-Moon  or 
any  other  figure  suitable  to  their  fancy."  It  is  quite 
probable  that  the  "  figures  of  children  and  birds  made 
of  pearl,"  said  by  the  Portuguese  narrator  to  have  been 
found  by  De  Soto  in  the  temple  at  Talomeco,  were 
nothing  more  than  beautiful  gorgets,  the  personal  orna- 
ments of  the  departed  caciques  and  chieftains  of  Cutifa- 
chiqui  who  were  there  interred. 

The  largest  of  these  ornaments  (Fig.  3,  Plate  XXX.), 
it  will  be  perceived,  is  elliptical  in  shape— its  diame- 
ters, measured  in  the  direction  of  the  major  and  minor 
axes,  being  respectively  four  inches  and  three  inches 
and  a  half.  It  is  about  the  eighth  of  an  inch  in  thick, 
ness.  In  the  upper  edge  are  two  holes — rather  more 
than  half  an  inch  apart — by  means  of  which  it  was 
suspended.  The  open-work  and  ornamentation  are, 
we  think,  to  be  regarded  rather  as  the  expressions  of 
the  rude  fancy  of  the  workman,  than  as  indications  of 
any  intelligent  design  or  pictographic  idea.  These  gor- 
gets were,  at  the  period  of  their  manufacture,  carefully 
polished,  and  the  ornamentation  occurs  on  the  inner  or 
concave  surface.  This,  then,  was  the  side  intended  for 
display.     The  interior  of  the  shell  being  lined  with  an 

1  Adair's  "History  of  the  American  Indians,"  p.  84.     London,  1775. 
1  "  History  and  Present  State  of  Virginia,"  book  iii.,  chapter  xii.,  p.  59.     Lon- 
don, 1705. 


SHELL    GORGETS    AND    ARMLETS.  517 

iridescent  nacre,  and  that  surface  having  been  by  Na- 
ture polished  beyond  all  art,  was  far  more  beautiful 
than  the  exterior,  and  was  consequently  selected  for 
exhibition.  This  we  believe  to  be  the  true  interpreta- 
tion of  the  thought  of  these  peoples  in  the  use  of  such 
ornaments.  Some  of  the  gorgets  are  bored  only  in  the 
centre  ;  others  have  holes  both  in  the  upper  edge  and 
in  the  central  portion,  which  would  indicate  that  they 
were  sometimes  suspended,  and  at  other  times  worn 
as  fixed  ornaments  attached  to  the  head-dress  or  cloth- 
ing. In  form,  size,  and  ornamentation,  these  relics  do 
but  express  the  individual  fancy  of  those  by  whom 
they  were  made;  and  while  in  the  accompanying  illus- 
tration we  have  indicated  only  two  prevalent  types, 
to  wit,  the  elliptical  and  circular,  we  might  mention 
others  which  are  square,  ovoidal,  stellate,  parallelo- 
grammic  and  irregular  in  shape,  some  with  and  some 
without  scalloped  edges,  and  others  still  which,  care- 
lessly constructed  and  with  a  single  hole  in  the  centre, 
suggest  the  idea  that  they  were  designed  as  shell  but- 
tons.1 Closely  allied  to  the  gorgets  are  the  shell  arm- 
lets and  anklets. 

Such  is  the  peculiar  shape  of  these  ornaments  that 
they  appear  by  nature  adapted  to  the  curvature  of  the 
arm  or  leg. 

By  means  of  a  thong  passing  round  the  limb  and 
through  the  holes,  they  could  have  been  readily  worn 
in  any  desired  position.  Many  were  probably  used, 
at  pleasure,  either  in  the  manner  we  have  suggested  or 
as  gorgets  suspended  from  the  neck  or  ears. 

•  Another  variety  of  shell  ornaments  found  in  the 

1  See  a  description  of  similar  ornaments  found  in  sepulchral  mounds  in  Ten- 
nessee, Fifth  Annual  Report  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Peabody  Museum,  p.  1C,  et  seq. 
Boston,  1872. 


518  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

Southern  mounds  is  that  which  may  be  designated  by 
.the  general  name  of  Pins.  Two  forms  are  here  rep- 
resented, the  one  pointed  at  either  extremity  and  tu- 
mescent in  the  central  portion  (see  Fig.  5,  Plate  XXX.), 
the  other  with  one  end  terminating  in  a  large,  well- 
formed  head,  and  the  other  tapering  to  a  blunt  point 
(see  Figs.  6  and  7,  Plate  XXX.).  Those  with  heads 
were  made  from  the  columellas  of  some  big  univalve, 
such  as  the  Strombus  gigas.  The  extreme  length  of 
the  pin  numbered  6,  in  Plate  XXX.,  is  five  inches  and 
a  half,  one  inch  of  that  distance  being  occupied  by  the 
head,  which  is  an  inch  and  a  quarter  in  diameter.  The 
shank  is  an  inch  and  a  half  in  circumference ;  and,  while 
tapering  somewhat,  is  blunt  at  the  point.  Relics  pre- 
cisely similar  in  shape  were  fashioned  of  soapstone. 
From  the  same  tumulus  pins  made  both  of  shell  and 
stone  have  been  taken.  The  pointed  pins  are  usually 
smaller,  seldom  exceeding  three  inches  in  length,  while 
those  with  heads  vary  in  length  from  an  inch  and  a 
half  to  six  inches.  These  ornaments  were  at  the  time 
of  their  manufacture  highly  polished  in  every  part. 
While  their  precise  use  is  open  to  conjecture,  we  may 
safely  conclude  that  they  were  intended  as  objects  of 
display  and  personal  decoration.1 

Shells  were  frequently  worn  as  ornaments  without 
any  material  alteration  of  their  natural  forms.  Among 
the  Southern  Indians  the  oliva  and  the  rnargmella  (see 
Figs.  8  and  9,  Plate  XXX.)  were  extensively  used  as 
necklaces,  bracelets,  and  anklets.  The  apices  of  the 
former  were  cut  or  rubbed  off,  and  the  backs  of  the 
latter  ground  so  as  to  make  a  second  hole  or  perfora- 

1  Bone  pins  somewhat  analogous  in  form  have  been  found  in  the  Lake  Dwell- 
ings of  Switzerland.  "Keller's  Lake  Dwellings,"  p.  174,  plate  liv.,  Fig.  33.  Lon- 
don, 1866. 


UNFINISHED    SHELL   BEADS.  519 

tion  by  means  of  which  a  thread  of  some  sort  could  be 
conveniently  introduced,  and  thus  any  desired  number 
of  the  shells  securely  strung.1  In  several  localities  we 
have  found  the  columns  of  large  sea-shells  cut  off  at 
the  required  lengths,  partially  fashioned  and  imper- 
forate, which  were  evidently  obtained  in  this  imperfect 
condition  from  the  primitive  shell-merchantmen  and 
kept  for  polish  and  completion,  at  some  future  time, 
by  the  purchasers.  {See  Figs.  10,  11,  and  12,  Plate 
XXX.)  Cabeca  de  Vaca  alludes  to  a  trade  in  such 
articles,  and  the  banks  of  the  Ocmulgee  near  Macon, 
and  of  the  Chattahoochee  far  up  among  the  beautiful 
valleys  of  Cherokee  Georgia,  as  well  as  the  sites  of 
many  old  Indian  villages,  bear  present  testimony  to  the 
truth  of  his  narrative  and  to  the  extensive  character  of 
this  ancient  traffic  in  unfinished  shell  beads. 

We  might  enumerate  other  shell  trinkets,  but  they 
are  matters  rather  of  curiosity  than  of  archaeological 
value. 

Beads  were  also  manufactured  of  stone,  clay,  bone, 
and  wood.  Those  of  stone  were  generally  made  of 
soapstone,  are  globular  in  shape,  and  about  three-quar- 
ters of  an  inch  in  diameter.  The  clay  beads  are  circular 
in  form,  the  upper  and  lower  sides  being  flat,  are  per- 
forated through  the  centre,  are  from  a  quarter  to  half 
an  inch  in  thickness,  and  vary  in  size  from  half  an  inch 
to  an  inch  and  a  half  in  diameter.  When  these  disk- 
like beads  were  strung  in  quantities,  only  the  edges 

1  Compare  "Transactions  of  the  American  Ethnological  Society,"  vol.  i.,  p.  360, 
New  York,  1845.  "Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  p.  233.  Wil- 
son's "  Prehistoric  Man,"  pp.  129,141,  London,  1865.  Stevens' "Flint  Chips," 
p.  454,  London,  18*70.  "  Smithsonian  Report  for  1868,"  p.  404.  Venegas'  "  Na- 
tural and  Civil  History  of  California,"  vol.  i.,  pp.  71,  73,  London,  1759.  Henne- 
pin's "  Continuation  of  the  New  Discorery,"  p.  80,  London,  1698.  "Narratives 
of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto,"  etc.,  translated  by  Buckingham  Smith,  p. 
252,  New  York,  1866. 


520  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN   INDIANS. 

would  appear.  Bone  heads  were  cut  in  desired  lengths 
from  the  wing-bone  of  a  large  bird  or  from  the  small 
bone  of  the  leg  of  a  deer  or  other  animal.  Their  perfora- 
tions are  longitudinal,  and  the  ornaments  when  finished 
were  carefully  polished.     {See  Fig.  13,  Plate  XXX.) 

Human  teeth,  and  the  teeth  and  claws  of  bears  and 
the  spurs  of  the  turkey-cock,  were  perforated  and  worn 
as  pendants.  Youths  frequently  bedecked  themselves 
with  bracelets  made  of  the  ribs  of  deer,  which  were 
boiled,  bent  into  the  desired  shapes,  and  then  polished 
so  as  to  look  like  ivory.1 

In  comparatively  recent  sepultures  European  beads 
of  glass  and  porcelain  are  not  infrequent.  Black,  blue, 
white,  and  red,  are  the  predominating  colors.  Many 
are  enamelled,  and  are  evidently  Venetian  in  their 
origin.  With  these  European  beads  the  white  wam- 
pum and  other  snell  beads  are  often  found  inter- 
mingled. Portions  of  strings  of  rosary-beads  also 
occur,  which  were  doubtless  obtained  at  an  early  period 
through  religious  commerce  with  the  Spanish  priests.  ■ 

Secondary  interments  upon  the  tops  and  sides  of  an- 
cient tumuli,  and  many  Indian  graves  in  Cherokee  Geor- 
gia contain  ornaments  of  silver  and  brass,  consisting  of 
corrugated  bracelets,  ear  and  finger  rings,  pendants, 
buckles,  clasps,  bosses,  and  gorgets.  In  most  of  them  we 
recognize  how  sedulously  the  European  manufacturer 
pandered  to  the  barbaric  tastes  of  these  primitive  peo- 
ples. 

In  the  Etowah  Valley  gold  beads  have  been  found 
which  were  clearly  the  handiwork  of  the  natives. 
Copper  pendants  also  are  occasionally  unearthed  in 
Nacoochee  and  other  valleys  in  Upper  Georgia.  In 
all  instances  of  this  character,  as  we  have  already  re- 

1  Du  Pratz,  "History  of  Louisiana,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  233.     London,  1*753. 


ORNAMENTS.  521 

marked,  the  metal  was  treated  without  the  application 
of  heat,  and  was  simply  hammered  into  the  desired 
shape.  Among  the  Aboriginal  tribes  of  this  region, 
prior  to  commerce  with  Europeans,  the  use  of  metallic 
ornaments  and  implements  was  limited. 

Adair 1  assures  us  that  in  the  olden  time  quartz- 
crystals  (or,  to  use  his  own  language,  "  such  coarse 
diamonds  as  their  own  hilly  country  produced  ")  were 
freely  used.  They  were  fastened  by  means  of  deer- 
sinews  to  the  hair,  nose,  .ears,  moccasins,  and  various 
parts  of  the  dress.  The  truth  of  this  statement  is 
attested  by  the  contents  of  many  mounds  which  we 
have  opened.  Mr.  At  water  is  correct  when  he  sup- 
poses that  the  circular  aggregation  of  crystals  which 
he  figures  on  page  233  of  Volume  I.  of  the  "  Archae- 
ologia  Americana,"  was  worn  as  an  ornament.  We 
have  in  our  collection  a  beautiful  specimen  of  this 
character  taken  from  a  Georgia  burial-mound  located 
two  hundred  miles  away  from  any  point  whence  the 
quartz-crystals  could  have  been  obtained.  The  holes 
in  the  lobes  of  the  ears  of  the  women  were  small,  but 
the  men  were  in  the  habit  of  cutting  out  the  entire 
interior  of  the  lobes  of  their  ears,  and  then  inserting 
large  tufts  of  buffalo's-wool  mixed  with  bear's-grease, 
so  as  to  distend  the  aperture  to  the  utmost  degree.2 
Into  these,  when  healed,  they  would  introduce  bunches 
of  beautiful  feathers,  large  rings,  joints  of  cane  gaudily 
colored,  and  the  inflated  bladders  of  fishes.3  In  the  ex- 
planatory note  accompanying  plate  xxxviii.  of  the  "  Bre- 
vis  Narratio,"  we  are  informed  that  both  men  and  wom- 
en wore  these  fish-bladders  in  their  ears,  and  that  when 

1  "History  of  the  American  Indians,"  etc.,  pp.  170,  171.     London,  1775. 
a  Adair's  "History  of  the  American  Indians,"  etc.,  p.  171.     London,  1775. 
3  "Brevis  Xarratio,"  plates  viii.,  xi.,  xii.,  xv.,  xvi.,  xviii.,  xxvii.,  xxviii.,   xxxii., 
xxxiv.,  xxxv.,  xxxix. 


522  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

inflated  they  shone  like  pearls.  Sometimes  they  were 
colored  red,  and  then  they  resembled  carbuncles.  The 
first  joint  of  an  eagle's  leg,1  with  the  talons  attached, 
formed  a  favorite  ear-ornament  with  the  Southern  war- 
rior. 

Cabega  de  Vacaa  observed  some  of  the  Florida 
Indians  with  their  nipples  and  under  lips  bored,  and 
wearing  pieces  of  cane  in  the  openings.  Pendants  of 
various  sorts  from  the  nose  and  under  lip  were  custom- 
ary, and  it  may  be  that  lip-stones,  after  the  fashion  of 
the  Mexicans,  were  also  used  as  personal  decorations. 

CONCLUSION 

As  it  comports  not  with  the  plan  proposed  and 
adopted  in  the  execution  of  this  work,  we  refrain  from 
entering  upon  a  discussion  of  the  interesting  inquiry, 
Whence  came  the  red-men  who  first  peopled  this  por- 
tion of  North  America  % 

Our  object  has  been  to  present  a  general  descrip- 
tion of  the  Southern  Indians  as  they  appeared  when 
the  Europeans  first  ventured  among  them,  and  to  in- 
terpret their  relics  in  the  light  of  early  recorded  obser- 
vations and  of  customs  not  obsolete  at  the  date  of  the 
Spanish,  French,  and  English  colonizations. 

Comparing,  the  manners  and  temper  of  the  South- 
ern Indians  with  those  of  the  more  Northern  tribes 
which  he  visited,  Father  Hennepin  pronounces  the 
former  "  Civil,  Easie,  Tractable  and  capable  of  instruc- 
tions," while  the  latter  are  declared  "  mere  Brutes  as 
fierce  and  cruel  as  any  wild  Beasts." 3  Enjoying 
those  physical  blessings  which  are  bestowed  by  warm 
skies,  luxuriant  vegetation  and  abundant  animal  life, 

1  "  Brevis  Narratio,"  etc.,  plate  xiv. 

a  "Relation,"  etc.,trdiislated  by  Buckingham  Smith,  p.  75.     New  York  ,1871. 

8  "New  Discovery,"  etc.,  p.  157.     London,  1698. 


CONCLUDING    OBSEEVATIONS.  523 

the  Southern  Indians  were  in  great  measure  relieved 
of  those  perpetual  struggles  for  covering  and  food 
which  have  such  a  decided  tendency  to  harden  the 
condition  of  the  savage,  embitter  his  existence,  and 
render  him  an  Ishmaelite  even  among  his  own  fellows. 
To  the  soft  airs  which  surrounded  them  and  the  gener- 
ous trees  which  alike  in  winter  and  summer  threw  their 
protecting  arms  about  them,  to  the  food-treasures  of 
the  water  and  the  forests — ever  present  to  supply 
with  little  effort  their  simple  wants — and  to  the  spon- 
taneous productions  of  a  fertile  soil,  were  these  peo- 
ples largely  indebted  for  the  pleasure-loving  disposi- 
tion and  the  imaginative  temperament  they  possessed, 
and  for  the  gentle  lives  they  were  permitted  to  lead. 
Exempt  from  trials  incident  to  a  rigorous  climate  and 
an  inhospitable  country,  they  were  able  to  devote  much 
of  their  time  to  amusements  and  social  enjoyment,  and 
to  the  development  of  a  degree  of  taste  and  skill  in 
manufacture  superior  to  that  exhibited  by  their  North- 
ern neighbors.  Upon  a  careful  comparison  of  the  an- 
tiquities of  the  Southern  nations  with  those  of  the 
Northern  tribes,  we  think  a  greater  variety  and  excel- 
lence of  manufacture,  a  more  diversified  expression  of 
fancy  in  ornamentation,  a  more  careful  selection  of 
beautiful  material,  a  superior  delicacy  and  finish  in  the 
fabrication  of  iuquements,  both  chipped  and  polished, 
a  more  pronounced  exhibition  of  combined  labor  in 
the  erection  of  tumuli,  a  more  despotic  form  of  gov- 
ernment, a  greater  permanency  of  seats,  a  more  liberal 
expenditure  of  care  and  attention  in  the  cultivation  of 
the  soil,  a  more  decided  system  of  worship,  and  a  more 
disrnified  observance  of  significant  festivals  and  funeral 
customs  may  fairly  be  claimed  for  the  former.  We  are 
acquainted  with  no  region  north  and  east  of  the  Rio 


524  ANTIQUITIES    OF   THE    SOUTHERN    INDIANS. 

Grande  in  which  the  earliest  exhibitions  of  skill  and 
taste  in  the  manufacture  of  implements  and  ornaments 
of  stone,  shell,  and  bone,  are  more  varied  and  attrac- 
tive, where  pipe-making  claimed  such  special  attention, 
and  where  the  antique  pottery  is  indicative  of  such 
diversity  of  form  and  ornamentation,  and  possessed  of 
such  homogeneousness  of  composition  and  durability. 
Our  observations  have  been,  perhaps,  too  general, 
and  not  sufficiently  minute,  to  satisfy  either  our  own 
wish  or  the  intelligent  desire  of  those  in  quest  of 
specific  information  touching  the  interesting  subjects 
of  which  we  have  essayed  to  treat.  Sufficient  has 
been  said,  however,  we  trust,  to  afford  the  inquirer  a 
tolerable  conception  of  the  antiquities  of  the  region 
which  has  formed  the  field  of  research.  So  manifold 
are  the  exhibitions  of  fancy  and  use  among  the  stone 
implements,  so  frequent  the  modifications  of  well- 
defined  types,  and  so  varied  the  traces  of  early  con- 
structive skill,  that  were  we  to  pursue  the  investiga- 
tion with  that  detail  which  characterizes  the  recent 
and  most  valuable  work  of  Mr.  Evans  upon  the  an- 
cient stone  implements  of  Great  Britain,  we  would 
scarcely  be  able  to  assign  a  reasonable  limit  either  to  the 
descriptions  or  to  the  illustrations  which  would  be  sug- 
gested. A  particular  consideration  of  hammer-stones, 
mauls,  sling-stones,  whet  stones,  and  of  minor  relics, 
as  well  as  of  unfinished  objects,  such  as  flint  chips, 
wasters,  etc.,  has  been  omitted.  "  Flakes  and  splinters 
of  silicious  stone,  whether  flint,  jasper,  chert,  iron-stone, 
quartzite,  or  obsidian,  are  to  be  found  in  almost  all 
known  countries,  and  belong  to  all  ages.  They  are,  in 
fact,  the  most  catholic  of  all  stone  implements,  and 
have  been  in  use  '  semper,  ubique  et  ab  omnibus.'  "  l 

1  Evans'  "  Stone  Implements,  etc.,  of  Great  Britain,"  p.  257.     London,  1872. 


BULLET-MOULD.  ;>-•> 

The  objects  which  we  have  selected  for  illustration 
are  designed  to  convey  a  suitable  idea  of  prevailing 
types,  not  abnormal  forms.  Fcr  this  purpose  we  have 
used  such  originals  as  are  in  our  own  possession,  re- 
fraining entirely  from  reproducing  a  single  illustration 
which  has  appeared  elsewhere.  For  the  genuineness 
of  these  relics  and  the  accuracy  of  the  drawings  we 
stand  personally  pledged.  Of  the  relics  obtained 
through  early  commerce  with  Europeans,  and  found 
in  the  graves  of  modern  Indians,  much  might  be  said: 
but  these  belong  to  a  transition  period  and  do  not 
properly  claim  present  attention.  There  are  other 
relics,  the  product  of  the  labor  and  the  ingenuity  of 
the  red-men  in  their  effort  to  satisfy  wants  suggested 
by  personal  intercourse  with  these  strangers.  Of  these 
a  bullet-mould,  taken  from  an  Indian  grave  in  Oos- 
tenaula  Valley,  may  be  mentioned  as  an  example. 
Made  of  soapstone,  it  contains  thirteen  matrices  for 
running  shot  and  balls,  varying  in  size  from  a  swan- 
shot  to  an  ounce-ball.  These  cavities  are  carefully 
and  regularly  cut,  and  the  entire  arrangement  is  most 
creditable  to  the  workman  who,  in  the  absence  of  a 
metallic  bullet-mould,  was  able,  in  the  exercise  of  his 
native  ingenuity  and  skill,  to  manufacture  an  article 
out  of  a  material  with  which  he  was  entirely  familiar, 
so  cleverly  answering  the  use  which  contact  with  the 
whites  had  taught  him  to  understand  and  to  require. 

American  archaeology  is  as  yet  in  its  infancy,  and 
there  are,  on  every  hand,  inviting  fields  in  which  in- 
telligent observers  may  reap  rich  harvests.  If  these 
pages  shall  minister  to  the  entertainment  of  the  gen- 
eral reader,  and  contribute  aught  of  value  to  the  in- 
formation of  the  careful  student,  the  pleasurable  labors 
of  the  author  will  not  have  been  entirely  in  vain. 


GENEKAL  INDEX. 


Aeonithus,  mound  at,  119. 

Adair,  James,  8.  19,  86,  115,  251, 
273,  300,  309,  333,  341,  418,  505. 

Adultery,  punishment  of,  60,  67. 

Adze,  277. 

Agamemnon,  119. 

Agriculture,  296-320. 

Agricultural  implements,  301-303, 
500. 

Agricultural  labors,  41,  307. 

Alexander  the  Great,  120. 

Alibamons,  31. 

Alyattes,  119. 

Amexias,  45.  . 

Amulets,  372,  373. 

Anasco,  247. 

Anklets,  517. 

Appalatcy,  229. 

Archdale,  Governor,  2. 

Archery,  245-250. 

Armlets,  517. 

Armories,  at  Talomeco,  26. 

Arrows,  of  the  Florida  Indians,  18; 
manufacture  of,  245-259. 

Arrow-heads,  240;  general  distri- 
bution of,  240-242  ;  where  manu- 
factured, 242,  243 ;  articles  of 
commerce,  243;  of  what  materials 
made,  244,  247,  249,  250,  256; 
typical  forms  of,  254,  265-267; 
size  of,  257;  how  attached  to 
shafts,  257;  how  mamifactured, 
259-265. 

Arrow-makers,  243. 

Arrow-shafts,  stones  for  rounding, 
366,  367. 

Arrow-stems,  of  cane,  255. 

Artachies,  119. 

Articles  of  dress,  61. 


Ash,  Thomas,  250,  822,  422 

Assembly-room,  15. 

Atwater,  Caleb,  436. 

Awls,  291,  292. 

Axes,  stone,  269-286  ;  general  dis- 
tribution of,  269  ;  how  made  and 
hafted,  270-273  ;  grooved,  "274- 
278  ;  size  of,  275  ;  how  sharpened, 
277  ;  wedge-shaped,  or  stone  celts, 
278-281 ;  with  stone  handle,  280 ; 
perforated  or  ceremonial,  281- 
284. 


Baegert,  Jacob,  363. 

Ball-play,  96-98. 

Bartram,  William,  3,  8,  20,  41,  123, 

150,  178,  190,  216,  316,  328,  417. 
Baskets,  manufacture  of,  225. 
Beads,   of   European  manufacture, 

235-237,  520;  of  shell,  511-514; 

of  stone,  bone,  and  clay,  519  ;  of 

gold,  etc.,  520. 
Beckwith,  Lieutenant,  263. 
Beverley,  250,  270,  362,  470,  502. 
Biedma,   Luys  Hernandez  de,  235. 

469. 
Black-drink,  11,  15. 
Blackmoor's  teeth,  337. 
Blankets,  of  buffalo's-wool  and  tur- 
key-feathers, 87. 
Blow-guns,  256,  257. 
Bolzius,  Rev.  Martin,  417. 
Bone  houses,  113,  191. 
Boos-ke-taii,  feast  of  the,  99,  303- 

307. 
Borers,  291,  292. 
Borysthenes,  Scythian  tombs  on  the 

banks  of  the,  119. 
Bossu,  Captain,  184,  256,  271,  323. 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


.27 


Bows,  245-257. 

Bread,  preparation  of  maize  fur 
making,  810,  811. 

Breech  clouts,  74,  75,  81,  86. 

Brickell,  Dr.  John,  329. 

Brinton,  Dr.  D.  G.,  23G. 

Browne,  Sir  Thomas,  118. 

Brown's  Mount,  fortification  on, 
163-165. 

Bullet-mould,  525. 

Burial  of  the  dead  in  a  sitting  pos- 
ture, 183-185. 

Burial-ground  on  the  Georgia  coast, 
205-207. 

Burial-urns,  454-456. 


Calabashes,  445,  464. 

Calumets,    386-393;   typical   forms 

of,   404-408;    how   drilled,   408, 

409. 
Calumet-dance,  388-390. 
Canoe,  ancient,  dug  up  in  Savannah 

River  swamp,  53-57. 
Canoes,  53-61 ;    manufacture  of,  by 

Virginia  Indians,  55. 
Capital  punishment,  13. 
Carpets,  86. 
Cassis  flammea,  233. 
Catawbas,  2. 

Catlin,  George,  261,  369,  462. 
Catlinite,  407. 
Celts,  278-281. 
Chaouanons,  222. 
Charlevoix,  Father,  23,  428. 
Chateaubriand,  Viscount  de,  204. 
Chenco,  game  of,  346. 
Cherokees,  2,  7,  8  ;  territory  of  the, 

6;  phvsical  characteristics  of  the, 

9. 
Cherokee  chief,  funeral  obsequies  of 

a,  115. 
Chickasaws,  2,  3. 
Chieftain-mounds,  183-18*8. 
Chisca,  229. 
Chisels,  286-288,  496. 
Choctaws,  2,  256 ;  origin  of  the,  5. 
Chungke-gaine,    96,    341-346,   356, 

357 
Chunky-yard«,  178-181. 
Circular   earthwork   on    the  head- 
waters of  the  Ogeechee  River,  148. 
Clavigero,  227. 
Columbus,  476. 
Conjurer,  the  office  of,  28. 
Cooking,  308-311. 


Copper,  treated  as  a  malleable  stone, 
47,  227,  231  ;  use  of,  among  the 
Southern  Indians,  227-233  ;  axes 
of,  •  281 ;  implement  of,  from 
stone  grave  in  Nacooehee  Valley, 
225-227 ;  from  the  Etowah  Val- 
ley, 232 ;  pendants  of,  233 ;  rods 
of,-  232. 

Coreal,  Francois,  29,  362. 

Costume,  71-89. 

Council-house,  11. 

Counting,  101. 

Cowe,  council-house  of,  125. 

Craven,  Governor,  3. 

Crawfish,  mode  of  taking,  336. 

Creeks,  2,  6. 

Creek  Confederacy,  territory  of  the, 
3-6 ;  tribes  composing  the,  6. 

Cremation,  101,  189-192,  411. 

Cupping- tubes,  361. 

Cutiiachiqui,  the  Caoica  of,  24,  71, 
148,  149,  247. 


1). 


Dablon,  Father,  387. 

Daggers,  267. 

Dances,  various  kinds  of,  92-96,  388 
-390. 

Davis,  Dr.  E.  II,  232. 

De  Brahm,  William  Gerar,  6,  39,  83, 
421. 

De  Bry,  11,  209-211. 

De  Soto,  24,  25,  142,  149,  235,  468. 

Dentalium,  use  of  the,  510. 

Devil,  worship  of  the,  21. 

Discoidal  stones,  341-358 ;  not  ex- 
empt from  sepulture,  343,  3^6, 
347;  various  forms  of,  348-351  ; 
applied  to  secondary  uses,  351, 
352. 

Divorce,  66. 

Domenech,  Abb6  Em,  351. 

Dorantes,  Andres,  229. 

Drift-implements,  293-295. 

Drilling  in  stone,  408. 

Drills,  solid  and  hollow,  408-410. 

Drinking-cups,  233,  498. 

Drums,  90,  91. 

Dug-outs,  or  wooden  boats,  manu- 
facture and  use  of,  by  the  South- 
ern Indians,  53-61. 

Dumont,  462. 

Du  Pratz,  M.  Le  Page,  78,  105,  211, 
272,  302,  345. 

Dwellings  of  the  Florida  Indians ; 
35,  37 ;  of  the  Virginia  Indians, 


52S 


GENERAL   LSDEX. 


36 ;  of  the  Carolina  tribes,  37, 
of  the  Georgia  tribes,  39. 
Dyeing,  art  of,  03,  88. 


among     the     Chickasaws,     114; 
among    the  Cherokees,  114—116. 
185  ;  carefully  observed,  116, 190. 
Funeral-scaffolds,  112. 


Ear-ornaments,  88,  515,  521. 

Earth-walls,  212. 

Edistoes,  2. 

Efau-Hanjo,  420. 

Elevations  for  chieftain-houses,  122, 

126. 
Elf-stones,  251. 
Elvas,  the  Gentleman   of,    18,   25, 

142,  229,  246,  300. 
Emetic,     prepared     from     calcined 

shells,  29. 
Enchanted  mountain,  377. 
Enclosed  work  on  Plunkett  Creek, 

147. 
Etowah  idol,  432-434. 
Etowah  mounds,  136-143. 
European  axes,  285. 
Evans,  John,  524. 


F. 


Family  or  tribal  mounds,  189. 
Feasts,  monthly,  among  the  Natchez, 

99,  100. 
Feather  mantles,  61,  87. 
Festivals,  99,  100. 
Fire,  veneration  of,  21 ;  new  lighted 

at  the  feast  of  the  Boos-ke-tau,  99. 
Fishing,  various  modes  of,  325-340. 
Fish-gigs,  329,  330. 
Fish-hooks,  326,  327. 
Fishing-plummets.  328. 
Fish -preserves,  142,  143,   156,   175, 

325. 
Fish-traps,  330-334. 
Flutes,  90. 
Fontaneda,  469. 
Food,    animal,   42,   43 ;    vegetable, 

44,  308,  311. 
Fort    James,    ancient    monuments 

near,  123. 
Fortification    on    Brown's   Mount, 

163-165. 
Funeral  customs,  101-117,  132,  183 

-185,   190-192,   203;  among  the 

Choctaws,   104,    112,    113,    190; 

among  the  Natchez,  105  ;    among 

the  Virginia  tribes,  108;  among 

the  Carolina  tribes,  108-111,  184  ; 

among  the  Muscogulges,  113, 184 ; 

among  the  Alibamons,  114,  184; 


Gallatin,  Albert,  3,  6. 

Galphin,  Fort,  151. 

Game,  chungke,  96,  341-346,  356, 
357;  of  the  javelin,  354  ;  of  the 
pole,  345  ;  of  nettccawaw,  346  ; 
of  the  spear  and  ring,  355. 

Gaming,  98,  99. 

Garcilasso,  122,  471. 

Gardens,  private,  42,  299-301. 

Georgia,  original  boundaries  or  the 
Colony  of,  7. 

Gold  beads,  47. 

Gorgets,  515-517. 

Gouges  of  stone  and  bone,  287,  288  ; 
of  shell,  496. 

Government,  system  of,  obtaining 
among  the  Southern  Indians,  10. 

Granaries,  public,  41,  307. 

Grapes,  45. 

Graves,  113  ;  veneration  and  attach- 
ment for,  116,  117,  204,  205. 

Grave-mounds,  101-105. 

Grooved  axes,  274-278. 

Guyachoya,  Cacique  of,  24. 

Gyga?an  Lake,.  119. 

II. 
Hammers,  265. 
Hand-axes,  278-281. 
Hand-nets,  335,  336. 
Hariot,  Thomas,  17,  26,  30,  76,  316. 
Harvesting  the  maize,  307. 
Hatchets,  281-284. 
Hawkins,  Colonel  Benjamin,  14,  65. 
Haywood,  84-86,  216,  346,  360,  437. 
Head- warriors,  16. 
Hennepin,  Father,   230,    270,    £28, 

386,  470. 
Hephrestion,  120. 
Herodotus,  119. 
Hickory-nut-oil,  45,  316. 
High-priest,    office   and    duties    of 

the,  19. 
Hired  mourners,  111. 
Hitchittees,  origin  of  the,  4. 
Hoes,  301. 
Homer,  120. 
Horn  bells,  92. 
Hospitality  of  the  Southern  Indians, 

42. 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


520 


Hot-houses,  15. 

Human  sacrifices,  23,  24. 

Human  remains  found  in  a  cave  in 

Tennessee,  84-86. 
Hunter,  John  L>.,  461. 
Hunting,  322. 


Idol-pipes,  401-403. 

Idol- shrines,  431,  500. 

Images,  140,  146,  430-440. 

Image- worship,  22,  413-415,  417- 

419,  423-430. 
Immortality  of  the  soul,   belief  in 

the,  21. 
Incised  trenches  on  Stone  Mountain, 

380. 
Intaglios,  63,  377-399. 
Iron,  no  knowledge  of,  47. 


Jaouanas,  29,  30. 
Jars,  457. 
Javelin-game,  354. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  193,  436. 
Jones,  Prof.  Joseph,  M.  D.,  221-223, 

233,  268,  280,  439,  458. 
Jugglers,  31. 


Kiwasa,  the  idol,  26,  426. 
Knives,  flint,  290,  291,  496. 

L. 

Lafiteau,  271. 

La  Hontan,  192. 

Lake  Superior,  ancient  mining  on 

the  shores  of,  232. 
Land,  tenure  of,  40. 
Laudonniere,  249. 
Lawson,  Surveyor-General,    2,    31, 

80,  109,  328,  423-425,  504,  505. 
Leaf-shaped  implements,  291,  302. 
Lee,  Colonel  Henry,  151. 
Lip-stones,  88,  522. 
Longfellow,  II.  W.,  384. 
Loskiel,  270,  332. 
Lubbock,  Sir  John,  268,  414,  444. 
Lyon,  Caleb,  263. 

M. 

Maize,  cultivation  of,  297-301  ;  har- 
vesting of  the,  307  ;  preparation 

34 


of,  for  food,  308-314  ;  varieties  of, 
310. 

Maize-crushers,  314. 

Marginella,  use  of  the,  as  a  bead,  518. 

Marriage,  65-69. 

Matting,  cane,  225. 

Manilla,  211. 

Maxwell,  Major  J.  A.,  166. 

Mechanical  labor  of  the  Southern 
Indians,  46-53. 

Medicine-men,  28-33. 

Medicine-tubes,  359-365. 

Medicinal  plants,  34. 

Megalithic  monuments,  absence  of, 
127. 

Messier's  Mound,  166-174. 

Mica  membranacea,  376. 

Mico,  office  and  powers  of  the,  Il- 
ls ;  duties  of  the  Creek,  14 ;  cabin 
of  the,  15;  selection  of  an  assist- 
ant for  the,  14. 

Mining,  ancient,  in  Duke's  Creek 
Valley,  48 ;  in  Valley-River  Val- 
ley, 48. 

Mirrors,  376,  377. 

Moats,  ancient,  136,  146,  155,  170, 
171. 

Money,  shell,  501-511. 

Mortars,  309-314. 

Moscoso,  Luys  de,  24. 

Mound  -  builders,  135,  161,  176; 
skull  of  one  of  the,  160. 

Mound-building,  118;  in  Georgia, 
121 ;  within  the  historic  period, 
130-132. 

Mounds,  on  the  Colonel's  Island, 
129  ;  in  the  Etowah  Valley,  136- 
142 ;  in  the  valley  of  Little  Shoul- 
der-bone Creek,  143 ;  on  Plun- 
kett  Creek,  147;  on  Mason's 
plantation,  153-157;  on  the  Oc- 
mulgee  Paver  opposite  Macon, 
158-162  ;  on  Lamar's  plantation, 
162;  on  Messier's  plantation,  166 
-174;  of  observation  and  retreat, 
181,182;  sepulchral,  183;  chief- 
tain or  priest,  183;  family  or 
tribal,  189-192;  on  the  low 
grounds  of  the  Eivanna,  193  ;  on 
Stalling's  Island,  197;  of  shell, 
195-200;  of  stone,  202;  in  Nacoo- 
chee  Valley,  213  ;  at  the  junction 
of  the  Etowah  and  Oostenaula 
Rivers,  253. 

Muscogee  Confederacy,  2. 

Muscogees,  origin  of  the,  4;  physi- 
cal characteristics  of  the,  9,  10. 


530 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


Music,  90. 

Musical  instruments 


N. 


9(3-92. 


Nacoochee  Valley,  mound  in,  213; 

stoDe  graves  in,  214-224. 
Narvaez,  Panphilo  de,  116. 
Natchez,  2;  the  sun  among  the,  22- 

81. 
Nets,  143,  32G,  335-337,  339. 
Net-sinkers,  337-340. 
Nettecawaw,  game  of,  346. 
New  fire,  origin  of,  420. 
Nichols,  Captain  J.  IT.,  214. 
Nipples,  bored,  88. 
Nose-ornaments,  88. 
Nunez,  Vasco,  476. 
Nut-stones,  315-320. 

O. 

Offering  of  the  stag,  21,  22. 
Oglethorpe,  General,  3,86,  131,  188, 

189,  417,  421. 
Oliva,  the  use  of  the,  as  a  bead,  518. 
Open-air  workshops,  242. 
Orestes,  119. 
Ornamental  tubes,  365. 
Ornamentation  of  primitive  pottery, 

444. 
Ornaments,  71-89;    of  shell,  511- 

519;    of  European  manufacture, 

520. 
Ortiz,  Juan,  116. 


Pacaha,  142. 

Painting,  63. 

Palanquin,  use  of  the,  72,  73. 

Paria,  the  coast  of,  475. 

Patroclus,  the  burial  of,  120. 

Peace,  how  concluded,  15. 

Pearls,  149;  use  of,  as  ornaments, 
among  the  Southern  Indians,  467- 
494 ;  large  numbers  of,  found  in 
the  possession  of  the  natives  and 
in  the  graves  of  their  dead,  467- 
481 ;  method  of  procuring,  471, 
472,  476  ;  diving  for,  477  ;  trade 
in,  482  ;  obtained  from  both  ma- 
rine and  fluviatile  shells,  481-490 ; 
found  in  relic-beds  and  ancient 
graves,  491. 

Pear-shaped  stones,  371,  372. 

Perforated  axes,  281-284. 

Personal  property  deposited  with 
the  dead,  102,  185. 


Pestles,  314. 

Pendants,  of  copper,  233;  of  stone, 
370,  371. 

Physicians,  28-33. 

Pierced  tablets,  367-370. 

Pins,  of  shell,  233,  234;  of  soap- 
stone,  233,  234. 

Pipe-stem  carrier,  409. 

Pipes,  383-412  ;  origin  and  uses  of, 
383-385;  how  made,  408;  how 
drilled,  407-410  ;  calumets,  386- 
393;  typical  forms  of,  404-407; 
idol-pipes,  401-403 ;  ordinary  or 
common  pipes,  394;  typical  forms 
of,  410-412. 

Pits,  187. 

Plates,  stone,  373-376. 

Platters,  374. 

Pocahontas,  dance  of,  94,  95. 

Poisoning  fish,  327,  333. 

Polishing-stones,  292,  293. 

Polygamy,  68. 

Population,  aboriginal,  128. 

Pots  of  terra-cotta,  457. 

Potter's  wheel,  use  of  the,  unknown, 
47. 

Pottery,  manufacture  of,  46 ;  general 
description  of,  among  the  Southern 
Indians,  441-466 ;  an  index  of  the 
degree  of  civilization,  440 ;  histor- 
ical value  of,  443  ;  ornamentation 
of,  444,  458,  459 ;  use  of,  445- 
451 ;  manufacture  of,  451,  461- 
464,  501 ;  kilns  for  baking,  452, 
453  ;  various  sizes  of  articles  of, 
453  ;  burial-urns,  454-456 ;  pots, 
456,  457;  flat-bottomed  jars,  457 ; 
typical  forms  of  Southern,  458 ; 
vessels  of  soapstone,  460;  de- 
stroyed by  cremation,  465,  466. 

Priapus,  worship  of  the,  439. 

Priest-mounds,  187. 

Public  buildings  in  Creek  villages, 
15,  16. 

Public  deliberations,  15. 

Public  granaries,  41. 

Public  overseer,  41. 


Quivers,  258. 


R. 


Rattles,  91 ;  of  gourds,  91 ;  of  ter- 
rapin-shells, 92,  500. 

Rau,  Prof.  Charles,  64,  218-220, 
302,  338,  363,  369,  408,  433,  452, 
458. 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


531 


Refuse-piles,  200,  201. 

Religious  ideas,  20-24,  41G,  430. 

Reynolds,  Sir  Joshua,  127. 

Ribas,  362. 

Ribault,  Captain.  37,  229,  299,  330. 

Rock-walls,  207-209. 

Rock-writing,  62. 

Roe-deer,  stalking  of  the,  323. 

Roguet,  4U4-. 

Romans,  Captain  Bernard,  0,  4G,  83, 

92,  112,  250,  344. 
Rosaries,  236. 


S. 


Sacrifice  of  the  firs-t-born  male  child, 
13. 

Salt,  manufacture  of,  45,  40. 

Savannahs,  the,  2. 

Saws,  292. 

Scenauki,  69. 

Schoolcraft,  H.  R.,  260,  439. 

Scrapers,  288-290,  496. 

Sculptured  rocks,  377-380. 

Secondary  interments,  103,  126,  131, 
145,  160. 

Seminoles,  the,  2,  4. 

Sepulchral  mounds,  183. 

Shawls,  61,  73. 

Shawnoes,  the,  7. 

Shea,  John  Gilmary,  387. 

Shell  drinking-cups,  233. 

Shell-heaps,  200,  201,  483. 

Shell-mounds,  195-200. 

Shell  ornaments,  162. 

Shell  pins,  233,  518. 

Shells,  primitive  uses  of,  495-519  ; 
as  gouges,  chisels,  scrapers,  and 
knives,  496—498 ;  as  drinking-cups, 
498-500 ;  as  spoons,  500 ;  as  ag- 
ricultural implements,  500;  as 
rattles,  500 ;  as  shrines  for  idols, 
500 ;  as  an  element  of  strength  in 
the  manufacture  of  earthen-ware, 
501;  as  money,  501-511;  trade 
in,  506;  as  ornaments,  511-519; 
beads  of,  511 ;  typical  forms  of 
shell  beads,  512 ;  how  perforated, 
513,  514;  ear-rings,  515  ;  gorgets, 
515-517;  armlets  and  anklets, 
517;  pins,  518;  unfinished  shell 
beads,  as  articles  of  commerce, 
519. 

Shoes,  77,  79,  81. 

Sick,  treatment  of  the,  28-33,  362- 
364. 

Silver  Bluff,  123,  148. 


Sinkers,  perforated  and  grooved, 
337-340. 

Skins,  preparation  of,  62. 

Skull  of  modern  Indian,  160;  of 
mound-builder,  160  161. 

Slave-posts  in  chunky-yards,  17'.'. 

Sling-stones,  371. 

Slung-shots,  371,372. 

Smith,  Capt.  John,  76,  91,  230,  260. 

Smoking,  393-399,  410. 

Smoothing-stones,  292,293. 

Southern  Indians,  physical  charac- 
teristics of  the,  8. 

Spades,  stone,  302. 

Spanish  invasions,  effect  of  the,  upon 
the  Indian  population,  177. 

Spears  used  in  capturing  fish,  328, 
334. 

Spear-heads,  240,  252,253;  typical 
forms  of,  253,254;  how  made, 
259-265. 

Spindle-whorls,  235. 

Spinning,  87. 

Spiral  tire,  15. 

Spoons,  500. 

Squier,  Hon.  E.  George,  232. 

Squier  and  Davis,  Messrs.,  318,  354. 

Stalling's  Island,  shell-mound  on, 
197. 

Statues,  wooden,  at  Talomeco,  25. 

Stones  for  rounding  arrow-shafts, 
366,  367. 

Stones  upon  which  nuts  were  crack- 
ed, 315-320. 

Stone  graves,  214-238;  in  Nacoo- 
chee  Valley,  214;  age  of,  238;  in 
the  environs  of  Keow^e,  216;  in 
Tennessee,  216-221;  in  Missouri, 
217;  in  Illinois,  218-220;  in  Eu- 
rope, 224. 

Stone  heaps.  114,  202. 

Stone  Mountain,  207,  380. 

Stone  tumulus  near  Sparta,  Georgia, 
148. 

Stonoes,  the,  2. 

Storehouses,  12,  308. 

Stung-Serpent,  funeral  obsequies  of 
the,  105-107. 

Successive  inhumations,  193. 

Summer-houses,  35. 

Sun,  office  of  the,  among  the  Natch- 
ez, 23,  24;  worship  of  the,  20,  21, 
422,  427-429 :  truncated  pyramids 
erected  in  honor  of  the,  22. 

Supreme  Being,  conceptions  of  a, 
417-419. 

Sword,  stone,  268. 


532 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


Tacitus,  341. 

Talomeco,  mausoleum  of,  25,  230. 

Tambours,  91. 

Tattooing,  75,  80. 

Temple  of  the  Natchez,  427-429. 

Temple-mounds,  138,  142,  158. 

Terra-cotta,  vessels  of,  454-466. 

Terron,  Juan,  473. 

Timherlake,  Lieutenant,  251,  285, 
346,  419. 

Time,  how  reckoned,  100,  1.1. 

Toalli,  dwellings  of,  35. 

Tobacco,  44,  393-399. 

Tomahawks,  277. 

Tombs  of  the  Virginia  kings,  26,  27, 

Tomo-chi-chi,  69,  131,  185,  188,  189, 
421. 

Tonti,  the  Chevalier,  248. 

Town-plantation,  41. 

Towns  of  the  Florida  Indians,  35, 
37;  of  the  Virginia  Indians,  36; 
of  the  Carolina  tribes,  37. 

Trade  relations,  63,  64,  162,  238, 
243,  506. 

Tribal  or  family  mounds,  189. 

Triturating-stones,  314. 

Troost,  Professor,  216,  438. 

Tubes,  stone,  359-365. 

Tumlin,  Colonel  Lewis,  136. 

Tumuli,  ancient,  in  Georgia,  121; 
Bartram's  account  of,  123-125; 
secondare  uses  of,  126,  160;  gen- 
eral distribution  of,  127-129 ;  as- 
sociated in  groups,  129 ;  shapes 
and  sizes  of,  129,  130;  few  built, 
after  the  advent  of  the  Europeans, 
130-132  ;  age  of,  131-135  ;  on  the 
Etowah  River,  136-143  ;  in  the 
valley  of  Little  Shoulder-bone 
Creek,  143-147;  on  the  Savannah 
River  below  Augusta,  153-157; 
on  the  Ocmulgee  River,  opposite 
the  city  of  Macon,  158-161 ;  on 
Lamar's  plantation,  162 ;  on 
Brown's  Mount,  165;  onMessier's 
plantation,  166-174;  on  Wool- 
folk's  plantation,  182 ;  sepulchral, 
183 ;  chieftain,  183 ;  family  or 
tribal,  189 ;  on  the  low  grounds 
of  the  Rivanna,  193;  of  shell, 
195-200;  of  stone,  202;  on  Stab- 
ling's Island,  197}  in  Nacoochee 
Valley,  213;    at  the  confluence 


of  the  Etowah   and   Oostenaula 

Rivers,  253. 
Tuscaroras,  the,  7. 
Tvdeus,  120. 
Tylor,  Mr.,  414. 

U. 

lichees,  the,  2,  3. 
Undertakers,  112,  191,  223. 
Uppowoc,  396. 

V. 

Vaca,  Cabe?a  de,  229,  245,  3 02. 

Venegas,  Miguel,  363. 

Venetian  beads,  235. 

Victory-stones,  285. 

Virginia  kings,  how  entombed,  108. 


W. 


Walled  towns,  209-212. 
Walnut-oil,  45,  315,  316. 
Wampum,  501-511. 
War,  how  declared,  16,  18;  conduct 

of  the  Southern  Indians  in,  17,  18. 
War-chief,    the   great,    dignity   and 

power  of,  11,  16;  represents  the 

Mico  in  his  absence,  16. 
Warriors,  cabin  of  the,  16  ;  charac- 
teristics of  the  Southern,  19. 
Wears,  330-332. 
Weaving,  78,  87. 
Wedge-shaped  axes,  278-281. 
Westoes,  the,  2. 
Whetstones,  277,  367. 
Whittlesey,    Colonel    Charles,    319, 

331. 
Widows,  the  care  of,  13. 
Williams,  Roger,  507. 
Wilson,  Dr.  Daniel,  384. 
Winter  houses,  35. 
Wislizenus,  Dr.  A.,  218. 
Woman-chief,  among  the  Natchez. 

23. 
Woman,  position  of,  70. 
Wrightsboro,    ancient     monuments 

near,  123. 
Wyman,  Prof.  Jeffries,  200. 


Yamasees,  the,  2,  3. 
Year,  divisions  of  the,  100. 


